City of Refuge Fellowship

How far will you let God go in using you for His glory? When Isaiah saw the Lord, he heard God ask, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Isaiah immediately responded, “Here am I! Send me!” This response was without knowing the mission, the words or the outcome, he was moved by the invitation that was given to him by God. Moses was given an invitation to join God in the freedom of Israel from Egypt. The task seemed too great and he himself seemed much too small. He argued with God, tried to get out of it but finally accepted. Moses did know the promised outcome, deliverance, but had no idea how long or costly the freedom of Israel was going to be. We are told that Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him, despised the shame of the cross, choosing to set His attention on the outcome, on our salvation and His Father’s glory. He accepted His mission knowing exactly what it would cost choosing to believe that the will of His Father was greater than any price He would pay. Then there is Lazarus. Lazarus was not asked to fulfill a particular mission, but he was used much like these others. He was chosen to show forth the glory of God first by dying and then by being resurrected by the voice of Jesus. The encouragement that I hope to share with you today is that many of us will have a moment in life like Isaiah and Moses. It may not be as dramatic, there may be no burning bushes or visions of heaven, but we will experience the voice of God, calling us to join Him in His work, inviting us to be a part of His will and whispering to us His plan and purpose for the hours in which we are living. But I believe that all of us will have and are having Lazarus experiences, times in which we are being used by the perfect hands of God to bring Him glory. Times in which we may be fighting against or frightened by the present circumstances because of our lack of understanding but in a moment perfect peace allows us to know that we are not being forgotten we are being increased. Many times prayers that seem to be going unheard are not being neglected by God, He is simply preparing to do something even greater than we could have asked or imagined.

When Lazarus got sick, his sisters, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus. They sent this message because they had an expectation. They had followed Jesus long enough to know that there was no sickness or disease that He could not heal, they expected Him to heal their brother. Jesus did something that seemed odd to everyone around Him, He did not go to Lazarus. In fact, He made a declaration about the sickness, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” The sickness had a purpose and it was not death, it was that Jesus would be glorified, that those that followed Him and those that did not would see more clearly who He was and the glory that He deserved. When God speaks into our situations we must stop looking at the circumstances and begin watching for the promised outcome. When Jesus said those words to His disciples, they did not watch for God’s glory, they simply expected the sickness to end. There are points in our situations in which we must trust God enough to watch God. We must believe Him, His Word, His love and His promises enough to take our attention off of the circumstance and put it on Him in the form of faith.

Finally, after several days, Jesus announces to His disciples, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.” Is Jesus glad that Lazarus is dead? No, later in the passage we find Jesus weeping at Lazarus’ grave. He is not glad about the death of His friend but He is glad at the glory that is about to be revealed. He is glad about the change that is about to occur in the lives of His friends and He is glad at the salvation that is about to be poured out. When Jesus makes His way to Lazarus’ tomb He is met by first by Martha and then by Mary. They both greet Him the same way, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” They both trusted Jesus’ power to heal. They had experienced His healing in fact they had expected it. I am sure that when Lazarus got sick they had no expectation of his death, even if it was serious, they knew the answer to every sickness, they knew Jesus was able. Their faith in Him as a healer was strong but Jesus wanted them to have a greater faith. He wanted them to be sure of not only His power but of His identity. They could not simply enjoy His acts, they had to know His nature and His character. Jesus had an encounter with Martha in which He told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believe in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” I believe that Martha’s response is the purpose of this entire event. Her response is the reason that Lazarus was chosen to die, to be used in such a way. It was not merely to show that Jesus had power over death, it was to reveal who Jesus truly was. It was not about the miracle, it is never about the miracle, it was and is always about the hearts that are changed and the truth that is revealed through the miracles. Martha answers Jesus’ question with these words, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” She echoes the confession of Peter, the confession that Jesus declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against, the confession in which the entire church would be built upon. Her brothers death brought her life, it brought Jesus glory and it brought truth to everyone listening and watching.

Have you ever grown through someone else’s difficulty? I have. When I was 11 years old my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. The diagnosis was bleak and his doctor told him to make sure his affairs were in order. While praying one night my Mom and Dad believed they received a word from God that said that he would be healed. In church one Sunday morning there was a word spoken that said he would go through difficulty but the outcome would be healing. My Dad convinced his doctor to do surgery and when they did they found they were wrong, he did have cancer but it was simply one tumor, not spread through his body as they diagnosed. Now, 26 years later, my Dad is still cancer free and living well. I learned then that God heals. I also learned that He fulfills His promises and that His love for us is enormous. In 1999 my Sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer. For months I watched her fight and endure surgeries and treatments that left her weak in body but somehow strong in spirit. She called me one night and whispered into the phone, “Abie, why does He trust me this much? Why does God trust me enough to allow me to be used in this way?” Everywhere she went, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, doctors offices, she was a living example of the goodness of God and His glory was poured out. She endured and lives were changed, she trusted God and hearts melted. She passed away in October of that year, at perfect peace and ready to enter the eternal presence of God. I learned that God is good at all times. I learned that He loves His children and comforts, protects and delivers them, He is not a user, even when He uses us. I learned that life is truly a vapor but death is precious and rich.

Have you ever endured difficulty? If so, are you or will you let God be glorified through it? What if your difficulty has an eternal purpose? What if there is a Martha watching your life that is about to confess Jesus as Lord because of what you are enduring? What if God wants you to see more of Him, trust His heart and know His love in a more intimate way than ever before? What if this circumstance is not about the here and now but it has an eternal purpose and will win God eternal glory? Would it be worth it? Would we endure it?

When my Sister-in-law was sick we shared a passage from Romans 9 together, “Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ’Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have the power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” We do not choose how God uses our lives, but we have the opportunity to trust that He uses us. We are not the keepers of our destiny, but we have been given the freedom to have an intimate relationship of love with the One that does keep it. We are not those that are in control of our coming and going, but we have been offered the great privilege of becoming the sons and daughters of the One that orders every step and holds all of time in His hands. Many times we see being “used by God” as being something high and lofty, standing in a pulpit, singing on a platform, writing in books or witnessing on street corners. All of those things are good and God has chosen to use them all but the way He is truly glorified is through the lives that His children entrust to Him. God is glorified when we are “pressed but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.” He is glorified when we know and show everyone around us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. He is glorified when we are willing to believe and proclaim “He will rescue us . .  But even if He does not . . . We will not serve your gods.” Lazarus was a man that God loved, that God trusted and that God used. It was his death that led his sister Martha to her confession of faith. It was his death that opened the doors for Jesus to reveal an even greater revelation of Himself and it was his death that allowed the Jews to see the tears of love, of friendship and care that their God wept over each one of them. Whatever you may be going through today, it is not because God is absent, it is because He is doing more. You are not being betrayed and God is not slow in coming, He is working out perfection in your life and through your faith. It is not your errors or weakness that have brought on difficulty, it is His trust, His love and the glory that will be seen that God has chosen to use you “for such a time as this.” In the midst of your trouble today, take Jesus’ promise and claim it to come to pass both in and through your life, “take heart, I have overcome the world.”

We have set aside every Tuesday as a day of prayer for our National leaders: President Obama, the Senate and the Congress. Each week we present a specific focus, birthed from Scripture, that we can agree and pray together. This week we pray that:

National Leaders, if you receive God’s words, and treasure His commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. Proverbs :1-5

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

Therefore, I will exhort that first of all supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  I Timothy 2:1-3

The amazing thing about Jesus is that He is constantly showing us more of Himself. As we come to stages of our lives in which we are secure in Him, in what He has done for us, in who He is in our lives, He takes the initiative to show us even more of His love, more of His power, more of His character and more of His heart. Martha and Mary were confident that if Jesus had been present when their brother Lazarus was sick that He would have healed him. They knew Jesus as a healer, they knew Him as a friend and they knew Him as compassionate. The time had come for Jesus to increase their revelation of Him, to see more of Him and to know Him in an even deeper way. We often read John 11 and are immediately aware that Jesus revealed His power over death, this is true, but I believe that in this passage we see much more than that. We see Martha make her confession of Jesus as the Messiah. She grew in her faith, in her relationship and in her boldness. There are seasons of our lives in which all God is doing is bringing increase; greater knowledge, greater love; greater truth; greater healing and most of all greater faith. I encourage each of us today to not rely on what we have already known but to let God lead us to a place of greater trust and relationship. No matter how long or well you have known Jesus, He always has more!

One of my favorite television shows as a kid was the corny action adventure show “The A Team”. At that time I would have loved anything that had Mr. T as one of the stars but when they added car chases and explosions they had the perfect formula for a 12 year old fan. At the conclusion of each show, as the mission was being accomplished, the main character, “Hannibal Smith”, would use his catch phrase, “I love it when a plan comes together.” The first 45 minutes of each episode detailed how the plans would go terribly awry, nothing went as planned and yet, in the last 5 minutes the mission was always accomplished, leaving the teams leader to act as if the outcome was in fact exactly as he had planned it.

If we will be honest, most of us live our lives in the midst of plans that did not go as we have hoped, planned or expected. I can tell you that the place I sit today in my life is not where I had expected to be at this stage. I can take that truth and do one of a few things with it, I can push and fight and try to force my plans to come to pass; I can become depressed and look back in retrospect and try to figure out how I got here or even more, why I have not gotten to my desired place; or I can find peace by believing that God has plans for me that can not be thwarted and that have led me to the exact spot that I am sitting in. Through Jeremiah God told Judah, “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We quote this verse often but what we often miss is the context of the “plans” that God had. Jeremiah was being told that Judah was about to be taken into 70 years of captivity because of their sin and rebellion. They had been given opportunities to repent and turn to God but had refused and so now they were to be disciplined. And yet, these were the plans of hope and future, these were the plans of prosperity and not of harm. God is able to rightly plan for our future because He is the One that produces our future. He is not merely a farmer planting seeds, He is also the seed being planted!

Through a series of dreams God told Joseph that he would one day be the leader of his family, that they would come to him in need and that he would be a ruler over them. That was God’s revelation to Joseph about His plans for his life. No one agreed with the promise and no one was going to help him plan for or accomplish this outcome. Instead of leading his family Joseph ended up being despised by his brothers. They sold him into slavery. As a slave he did all that was asked of him but was falsely accused of crimes that led him to being put in prison. Even in prison he did all that was asked of him and was elevated to as high a place of leadership as an inmate could have only to be forgotten and even forsaken by those he helped. I am sure that Joseph had moments along the way in which he wondered how on earth these plans could lead to the fulfillment of God’s promise. How does slavery lead me to prosperity? How can imprisonment open doors for leadership? How can my families hatred of me ever lead to their desire for my help? There are times in all of our lives in which the plans don’t seem to match the promise. This is why Jeremiah’s words are so important, we are often good at believing in God’s promises for the future, but we often struggle at trusting that the circumstances of this moment could be a part of God’s plans.

When God speaks promises, direction or calling into our lives it is not for us to go out and fulfill it but rather for us to know what God is fulfilling in our lives with each step that He leads us into. God did not give Joseph dreams of leadership so that he could go out and be a leader, it was so that Joseph would know what God was doing with each step of his life, that Joseph would believe that there would be a hope and a future, prosperity and not harm. If we are believing God to fulfill a promise we must also give God control of all the plans and be led by the Spirit. It is in this place that we need to begin to realize that many of our plans actually oppose God’s promise rather than fulfill it. When Joseph had his dreams he immediately went and told his brothers about them. What older brothers want to hear that a day will come in which they will bow down to their younger brother as he sits on a throne? I am not sure what Joseph expected them t do in response, or even if he should have told them but what I do know is that God’s plans were not ready to be fulfilled, they had a perfect timing, a perfect purpose that would lead to a perfect hope.

One of the biggest detriments to God’s plans in our lives is that we get tired of waiting. It is in this weariness that we are tempted to make plans ourselves. We begin investigating how we can make it happen, speed things along or get the ball rolling. We have all heard the saying “God helps those that help themselves.” This statement is false and I believe that it is the main song of those that have taken plans into their own hands. What God actually says is “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” God says, do not trust your own understanding or discernment. You can not make the right plans if you are not even supposed to trust how you perceive the situation to be. In all of your ways simply means in every step that you take, every choice, every direction, every move or manner of life; “acknowledge” Him. This is the part that I find the most important. The Hebrew word being translated “acknowledge” is yada and it simply means “to know”. So in every move you make, know God. In every plan you attempt, know God. In ever change you want to see happen, know God. We have all heard that the “steps of the righteous are ordered by God”; I believe that the righteous know God in all of their steps because they choose not to move on their own plans but rather wait and trust in His.

If we are going to be people that believe in God’s promises for our lives, for our communities for our nation then we are going to have to be a people that choose to trust God to hold all of the plans. The promise and the plans often look different through human eyes. Abraham’s promise was to father a son, with Sarah, that would become a great nation, but the plans were to wait 25 years before this happened. Joseph’s promise was to be the leader of his family, but the plans included slavery and prison. Moses’ promise was to lead Israel into freedom, but the plans involved Pharoah’s hard heart, the Red Sea and a people that were not only bound by chains but by slavery mindsets. David’s promise was to be the king of Israel but the plans involved several years of hiding from King Saul, living outside of Israel and being a wanted man. John the Baptist’s promise was that he would prepare the way for the Messiah but the plans were that he must then decrease so that Jesus could increase. Paul’s promise was that he would take the gospel to the gentiles but the plans involved shipwrecks, stoning, prisons and even deadly vipers. Jesus was the Promised One, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of  Kings and even His plans were not as we expected them to be. The plan for His life was that He would have no place to lay His head; that He would be falsely accused and disbelieved; that He would endure persecution and rejection from the very people He breathed life into; that He would choose to submit to the cross so that He would then overcome hell, death, the grave and the world. Thank God that He does not give us promises and then leave us to make a plan. We will all be able to walk in more trust of God when we realize that we are not capable of making plans that could fulfill His purpose.

Where I am today is not where I had planned to be, but I am growing in confidence of this, it is exactly where God planned for me to be. If you are like me, and your current circumstance is not what you had intended or planned for I want to submit something to you that has been helping me. Henry Blackaby wrote, “We never know the truth of our circumstances until we have heard from God.” What is God saying to you about where you are right now? Don’t confuse that question with “What are you saying to God about where you are right now?“ Remember, what you are saying to God is not nearly as important as what He is saying to you. Don’t make plans, and even more, don’t try to change the circumstances until you have heard God speak to you about them. What if Joseph had tried to find a way to get back to his brothers, to get word to his father that he was still alive? What if Paul had followed the advice of the churches that begged him not to go to Jerusalem? What if Jesus had listened to those that wanted to make Him king or those that tempted Him to prove His power by coming down off the cross? We can not rightly act on or understand any circumstance until we hear God’s voice in the midst of and about it.

My encouragement today is this, trust God with more than the promises, trust Him with the plans. If our plans could fulfill God’s promises then we would be instructed to lean on our understanding and to trust our ways. We are have been instructed the exact opposite because our plans fade, our understanding changes and our ways seem to be every changing. We need a Leader that does not fear opposition, that can turn attacks into prosperity and that never changes the way that He has set from the beginning. When we trust God’s plans what we find out is that His promises are much larger than we ever dreamed. Josephs dreams came true, but not merely for him, but for his entire family. His leadership was not about his greatness but about his families salvation. Your God given dreams and promises are exactly the same, they are not about you nearly as much as they are about God’s desire to use your life to bring salvation and redemption to those around you. I pray today that we would not be so focused on the awaited outcome that we overlook the perfect plans that we are living in and living out. Don’t believe that God is only in the fulfillment, He is present in the midst of the path. Every step of the plan is covered in His blood and is followed by goodness and mercy. Trust that the promises of God are not merely Him telling you the future; they are His invitation for us to join Him in His plans.

We have set aside every Tuesday as a day of prayer for our National leaders: President Obama, the Senate and the Congress. Each week we present a specific focus, birthed from Scripture, that we can agree and pray together. This week we pray that:

God be merciful to our National Leaders and bless them, and cause Your face to shine upon them, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Psalm 67:1-2

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

Therefore, I will exhort that first of all supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  I Timothy 2:1-3

Romans 5 declares that “hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Our hope is not in outcomes, in opportunities or our own understanding. Our hope must be built by the fact that the Holy Spirit has been given to dwell within us. Hope is built by the presence of God, it is sustained by the presence of God and it is fulfilled by the presence of God. My prayer today is that we would reconsider hope and that we would not make it about us, about our wants, our dreams and our desires but that we would allow hope to be completely dependent upon God, His love, His righteousness and most of all His presence. Hope does not disappoint when we realize that the fullness of all things is found in the presence of God.

Urgent Call to Prayer: Signs of the Times

Convergence

It is critical that the church in America understands the times and what needs to be done now. The natural things speak of the invisible. Natural happenings on the earth are revealing something that is going on in the spiritual realm. There is a great spiritual conflict with a rising tide of Islamic boldness being manifested. Several happenings are converging this week. First of all, our President has recently proclaimed, honored, encouraged the Muslim holy days of prayer and fasting called Ramadan. He was very silent on the National Day of Prayer but very vocal on the support of Ramadan. Interestingly at the same time a major Christian leader of the Emergent Church called for forty days of fasting and prayer in the same Ramadan period with the goal that the church will better understand our Muslim friends. We are all for understanding but we must have spiritual discernment as to the spiritual dark powers that are being invoked into our nation.

Cause for Concern

At the same time, on the 25th of September, Muslims are calling for a Muslim Day of Prayer in Washington DC (http://www.islamoncapitolhill.com/). They are calling for 50,000 Muslims to gather and pray on the DC Mall. This is the exact word of one of the Sheikhs who is leading this historic gathering, “Muslims should march on the White House. We are going to the White House so that Islam will be victorious, Allah willing, and the White House will become into a Muslim house.” These are not empty words. They speak of a dark spiritual intent and a coming day of great trouble to America.

A Divine Moment

Now one of these events is enough to awaken us to this significant throbbing moment, but when they all converge it becomes a massive spiritual alarm that must be responded to by the praying Church. However, I believe in this moment of divine providence God has raised up on the stage of history a little “Esther” that if we pray and fast for her she could be a major voice to expose the dark under-belly of Islam and radiate a bright hope for a day of salvation for Muslims in America.

Headlines

On Monday, Rifqa Bary, a young 17-year-old woman, will be in the headlines of US news. Four years ago, while living in a very devout and radical Muslim home, Rifqa met Jesus in a powerful way as her savior. She hid her conversion, began praying secretly, and began hiding her bible from her parents. Then, on Facebook, her love for Jesus was exposed to the radical Muslim community in Ohio. Rifqa’s father demanded that she renounce Jesus or he would kill her as is commanded by the Koran. As a radiant believer in Jesus she refused to renounce her Lord and fled to Orlando where she was taken in and cared for by a Christian Church and family. Now, the father is appealing to the courts to bring her back under his custody. Major television networks have already covered her story. How must the Church of America respond in this moment for our sister who is a part of the Body of Christ?

A Major Sign

This convergence, I believe, is urgently summoning us in the midst of the rising tide of Islamic influence in America to recognize that our God is above every god and that if we return to Him with all of our hearts and call upon Him with fasting and prayer then God could use what the enemy meant for evil to bring about a great day of salvation for Muslims in America, of which Rifqa is but a major sign.

Here is The Call

First of all, we cannot be passive as a Church to let these kinds of developments go on without being challenged in the spirit. Our fight is not against Muslims, it is against principalities, powers, and forces of darkness. We are calling the Church of America at the end of Ramadan, from September 21st through 25th, to five days of concerted prayer. On Monday, we must pray that God would grant supernatural wisdom to the courts so that the testimony of Jesus would be proclaimed and that the best situation for Rifqa and her family would take place. We must pray for Rifqa to be bold in proclaiming Jesus that even thousands of Muslims would hear and be awakened to the love of Christ. She has already said that this is not about her but about many Muslims coming to Jesus. We must pray for her lawyers who are being bullied, threatened, and challenged on every side. On Friday, September 25th, the Muslim Day of Prayer, we are calling the Church of America to fast and pray that Muslims would be moved by the Holy Spirit, convicted by the testimony of Christ, and even be visited by Jesus in dreams. We must pray that God would restrain the spiritual powers behind Islam and grant us the great awakening that we desperately need for America.

Let us hear the call to prayer and not miss this moment,

Lou Engle
The Call

I have been trying to write about Psalm 27:13 for the last few days. David wrote, “I would have lost heart (fainted), unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Each time I have sat down to write I just have not felt like what I was trying to say was what God wanted to be said so I have hit delete and decided to try again another day. Today I finally feel ready, I hope you are to. This verse speaks to me on many levels, but I think what I find most appealing is that I am a fainter. I have passed out on more than one occasion when faced with giving blood, but that is the least of my confessions. I have experienced times of fainting in my spiritual life as well. Moments when I decided to be finished with a project, at the end of my strength in waiting for a promise, out of energy when praying for someone or something and even out of hope when faced with despair. I have never, ever come to the point in which I did not consider or believe God to be good, but I have come to places in which I have doubted my ability, my worthiness, my willingness and even my calling. This verse gives me courage because it seems to me that David is expressing what I have expressed myself, he never wanted to be free from God but had times in which he seemed to no longer have the strength to wait, to trust, to hope or to believe. I don’t want to faint anymore and I am trying to take the example of David’s writing to heart so I can learn how to have my strength renewed and my hope strengthened.

A few years ago I learned a valuable lesson about my physical fainting issue, the more embarrassed I was about it the more anxious I became and the more prone I was to fainting again. I had to get a series of shots for a trip to the Philippines and I decided that I would tell the doctor that I had a history of fainting. When I told him he did not make a big deal, he did not ridicule me but instead he reassured me and then asked if I would be more comfortable laying down for the shots so that I was not worried about falling. If I remember correctly I got three shots that day and did not even get a little dizzy. From that time I have continued to follow that pattern, when giving blood or getting shots,  let the doctors and nurses know my history beforehand; it has been years since the last time I fainted. What I realize now is that I needed help. I still don’t know why needles bother me so much. I have never had a bad experience, no real reason to point to for my anxiety but I know that it is real and that I needed to find a way to deal with it rather than just continuing as I was. By sharing my anxiety with the doctors and nurses it seems that I have opened myself up and allowed them to now help me with it rather than seeing them as part of the cause for it.

For those like me, that have times in which we are faint in spirit, we need to learn to stop hiding our weakness and to begin to allow others to help us carry it. First we have to make a confession to God. He knows our hearts and our struggles. He knows our thoughts and our weaknesses. He is not demanding that we overcome our weakness with our own strength, He is offering to be our Overcomer with His! I have become a firm believer in the act of confession, not merely for the forgiveness of sin but for the empowerment over weakness. It is not a sin to be tempted, but there is something powerful that happens when I confess to God that I am being tempted. He brings strength, He brings hope, He brings love and He brings a way of escape. We often quote I Corinthians 10:13 in part, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able”. This partial quotation leaves out the most important part of the promise. The next words read, “but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” God is not reacting to temptation, as if He is a Holy strainer, blocking that which could destroy us and allowing to come through that which we can bear, He is actively preparing a way of escape, a way of overcoming, a way of victory and a way of hope.

Isaiah famously wrote, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; . . . They shall walk and not faint.” The Hebrew word translated wait is qavah, it also carries the meaning “hope, expect, look for”. It is not the act of waiting that renews our strength, it is placing our hope in God while we wait, it is the expectation of God to do what He has promised and to forever be good, it is the action of looking for God’s presence and fulfillment that builds us up and the overcomes our bent for fainting. Our view of waiting is to simply be idle until an opportunity or appointment arises; this is not how God sees waiting at all. While waiting with, for or on God, we are not idle and we are not to be troubled but rather it is a season to have faith increase, to have character changed and to have hope built. Going back to Psalm 27, David said that he would have lost heart if he had not believed he would see the goodness of God. David did not need a glimpse, a confirmation or a sign to keep him from fainting, he needed faith. David’s faith kept him upright, his faith kept him from falling and his faith kept him from giving up. David was not sure when, was not sure how but he was sure that God would do what He had promised. His faith was not in the outcome it is was in the character of God.

The author of Hebrews wrote, “encourage one another daily”. As believers in Jesus the Holy Spirit lives within us (I Corinthians 6:19), and so we all always have the ability to give, to strengthen, to edify and to encourage. We must recognize that we have the power to lift each other up and to walk in the seriousness of this ability. If you are prone to fainting I want to encourage you to surround yourself with people that are willing to speak life and love into you. Surround yourself with those that are not merely filled with God’s Spirit but that are willing ambassadors of His Spirit. As you are surrounded, now you must make a step of faith and courage, confess your fears, confess your doubts, confess your anxiety and confess that you are prone to faint. This is not a confession of failure but rather a confession of need and weakness. Jesus told Paul, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” If you want the perfection of Christ’s strength in your life you must be willing to confess your weakness.

It has been years since I physically fainted but it has only been a few weeks since I felt as if I would faint in my spirit. I confess that to you today because I am confident that some of you may feel the same way as I have. If you are near the point of being overwhelmed today, don’t try to hold your chin up and get over it, confess it to God; share your heart and your mind with Him. Get in touch with a trusted brother or sisters and honestly share your experience so that they can pray. Don’t ask them to make it better, ask them to pray for you to be strengthened and for your faith to increase. This last part is a key, don’t pray for a sign or for a new confirmation, turn your attention to what God has already done in your life and around you. Our weariness is usually not about the current situation it is actually found in where we have set our attention. When my focus is on how long I have waited I decide that I have waited too long. When I focus on what I don’t understand I become even more confused. When I focus on what I am not in control of I become even more controlling. But when I “set my affections (focus) on things above” I become ever aware that I am loved with an everlasting love; that Jesus “does all things well”; that God is forever in control and that everything He does is done because of His love for me. We faint not when we lose focus but when we focus on the things that take our strength. We overcome our weakness by putting our hope in the God that is always strong. For the last couple of weeks I have been completely taken with one lyric from the song “He loves us”: “All of A sudden I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me.” My fainting is overcome when I know I am loved; my weakness is overcome when I know I am loved and my heart is renewed when I know I am loved. If you are a fainter, like me, I pray that you will be reminded that God loves you and His love will cast out all fear, overcome all anxiety, mend every broken heart and fulfill every promise.

City of Refuge Fellowship will be hosting the class “Leaving the Burning Building” taught by Amybeth Berner. The class will be taught in two sessions: September 19, 9:00 AM 12:00 Noon and September 26, 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.

This class covers topics such as: physiology of emotion; positioning yourself for joy; learning to identify 6 negative emotions; the significance of attachment; “joy” gymnastics and triggers, transitions and immersion into fiery flames.

The cost of the class is a suggested donation of $25, an offering will be taken. There will be no childcare provided. For more information please feel free to call Abie Kulynych at 609-456-9062 or email at abie@cityofrefugefellowship.org.

We have set aside every Tuesday as a day of prayer for our National leaders: President Obama, the Senate and the Congress. Each week we present a specific focus, birthed from Scripture, that we can agree and pray together. This week we pray that:

Our National Leaders will say “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me.” Psalm 119:97-98

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

Therefore, I will exhort that first of all supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  I Timothy 2:1-3