There Is A Difference Between "Giving Up" and "Letting Go"

Sometimes the only way to rest in the peace of Jesus is to let go. The reason we struggle so much with letting go is because we are survivors. We are fighters. We will fight to hold on even if that means losing the peace Jesus gave to us. Now I am not talking about giving up. Giving up and letting go are two different things. Giving up is losing hope and walking away. Letting go is recognizing that there are some things we can do nothing about and deciding to trust Jesus and the promises he has given us. It is the recognition that we are not in charge, that our Father is and we will simply rest in him, having full confidence that his desire is not to destroy us but to complete us.

I will confess here, there are times when this is a struggle for me. I am not a controller except when it comes to relationships. Relationships is the one area where I will lose a lot of sleep over, especially changing relationships. I hate change in relationships. Whether it be a friend or a child moving away from me, it becomes a big disturber to my peace. I can handle the loss of things but I cry over changes in relationships. These become the stress points in my life. Have you identified your stress points, the things that are the hardest for you to deal with, the things that disturb your sleep?

Nothing is meant to disturb the peace that Jesus gave to us as a gift. Remind yourself:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

That is Jesus' will for us, that we would be a people of peace, his peace, which has been established in us by our relationship with Jesus; a relationship of trust. We are responsible for that peace once we have it. He told us "Do not let" and "do not be". It means we have a choice here. The peace is from him but we are responsible to keep it. It means not allowing anything to trouble our hearts and not allowing fear to take us captive.

It is amazing how much God has spoken against fear, constantly encouraging us, lifting us above this thing that can enslave us and strip us of the blessings of fellowship with the Spirit. Fear destroys trust or is a sign that trust never existed. As the children of God we are obligated by love to know, understand and live according to the promises. We must trust. We maintain such a relationship by knowing the promises and by taking everything, and I mean everything, to the Lord. We need to see him as he is, the great burden lifter:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

It doesn't make sense that we think we can hold on to things and still call out for this peace. The peace is already ours, a gift from God. What we need to do is learn to be like Jesus. We need to take his "yoke", his character, his relationship with the Father on as our own. We need to be willing and desiring so that the Spirit can do the impossible in us. Jesus said to look to him, learn from him. He said that, "learn from me" and then we would find rest. In other words we must swim out to the middle of the river and relax, floating in the current of our Father's will, just as Jesus did. "Not my will Father but yours be done."

Often our problem is that we are not willing to consider the Father's will. We are too busy exhausting ourselves trying to swim against the current. We rush around in impossible situations trying to find our own solutions, trying to plan our own rescue. We throw off the yoke of Jesus. There is no rest for us. No trust. No peace because we want what we want and we want it now. We refuse to understand that sometimes our Father has to lead us through those valleys of shadows to bring us to the good stuff, the better stuff, the place of his will. That is the meaning of Psalm 30:5 :

For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may remain for a night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

The seed must always die before it can be transformed. The old things in us must die and fall away before our Father can bring us into what he has prepared for us. Sometimes that transition will bring us to the abyss of "giving up". In the face of this abyss the hardest thing to do is let go. Not give up, but let go, allowing the Father to complete his working, trusting him even in the darkness. This is one of my favorite verses, knowing the hardships the apostle Paul had faced:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Those who are able to remain in the rest that is ours through the peace of Jesus are those who understand and trust that God is working these things out for our good. These are the people who have said in their hearts, "No matter what, I place my trust and my confidence in Jesus Christ because nothing else matters to me". The enemy will do everything in his power to destroy that confidence and trust in Jesus but that enemy is also under our feet, having no authority or power over us. I know who I am in Jesus, my Lord and Saviour, my King, the author and perfecter of my faith.

If you have allowed things to disturb the peace you were given as a gift, if you have lost the rest you once knew, it is time to remind yourself of these facts, to let go of what you are struggling to hold on to so that God can do what he desires to do and trust him. You have to trust that he loves you above everything else and he is working out his will in your life. Listen to the Spirit. Obey him especially in the valleys of those shadows because he has promised to guide you. Let go of those things and hold on to Jesus. Remember Abraham and Isaac. Abraham trusted and obeyed. The Lord stopped the knife and provided the sacrifice. Trust our Father.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)


- Pastor Paul Van Buren

Top 7 Online Bible Resources for Teaching Children

Children are so precious to God. As parents and teachers we have a wonderful opportunity to instill transforming truths in our kids' hearts. These values will be an anchor for them when they grow up and encounter the waves of life. As we see in the following Scriptures:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6

We can make learning fun by incorporating games and art into the lessons.
In this post I'm going to list 7 of my favorite free online resources to teach the Bible to children.


1- Christian Answers - has a wide range of lessons and printables and even some movies and online activities.


2- Abc Bible Verses - This page features a free bible alphabet poems with accompanying coloring pages for you to print out. Even if your children are older they will learn from each letter.


3- Virtual Church - has some Bible stories and coloring pages that go with each one.


4- E Bible Teacher - has a whole range of lessons to help Sunday School teachers, but can also be used by parents and homeschoolers.


5- Christian children story online free - This story about the arrival of Johnny's baby brother teaches the attributes of God while presenting a heart warming story about the new baby.


6- Sermons for Kids - provides short object lessons that transmit the truth in an easy to digest way.


7- DLTK Bible- has a variety of resources, crafts, worksheets and even songs to help you prepare your lesson.

I'm sure that these free resources will enhance your Bible lessons and make them lots of fun!
Blessings always,
Eren

Wait... until when

Jesus  said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” 

Back from our prayer meeting right now. Talked about Luke 18:1-8 to remember us that all that we ask in prayer God will give us, BUT will Jesus find faith at our hearts when He comes to us? Day after day we rise prayer in  to the God's Throne and sometimes the answer takes more time to back to us than we wanted it could to be. In this time of wait, lots of people give up their faith and lose all things, mainly their salvation.

Dear beloved, God knows the perfect time of all things and even in our own eyes seems nothing are happening, be sure, God NEVER LATE NOR FAIL, His time is perfect and all blessings when comes from Him doesn't brings pain or cry!

Saul in 1Samuel 13 was precipitated and did what wasn't allowed to do. His action brings many pain and after it, Saul lost his kingdom.  I have hearing people say: “I have to do something because i have no one in my favor, if I do nothing,  nothing will happen, who is for me? And with this kind of thought, people have been doing things before God do, making confusion, pain and cry.

Dear, wait to God sends you your blessings, He will does in the best time.

Keep your faith, never give up because what God said he will do.

Pray and stay strong in faith because your answer you will get BUT, Jesus Said.... Will I find faith in the earth?

Hope God find our hearts waiting His promises, like Abraham "was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness"

  Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:18-22

We Don't Know What To Do, But Our Eyes Are On You

Life is never a constant. It is more like the ebbs and tides of the ocean, responding to the many things that affect us and that we affect. Sometimes the ocean of life can been serene, with the almost hypnotic pounding of the waves upon the shore. Other times that ocean is a very frightening thing as the storms whip those waves up in to a ferocious fury. There are times when simple matters, like bill payments, becomes a mountain of a wave threatening to undo us when in reality it is a simple fix. Then there are times when circumstances are such we are not sure we will even be able to survive until morning.

During these very dark moments of life I like to remember King Jehoshaphat, one of the bravest kings of Judah. This is what scriptures says about him:

The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father David had followed. He did not consult the Baals but sought the God of his father and followed his commands rather than the practices of Israel. The LORD established the kingdom under his control; and all Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, so that he had great wealth and honor. His heart was devoted to the ways of the LORD; furthermore, he removed the high places and the Asherah poles from Judah. (2 Chronicles 17:3-6)

Jehoshaphat was so devoted to the Lord that his great desire was to see him honoured and worshiped throughout the land so he put in place a plan to bring about reforms. He sent out a team of teachers along with the Book of the Law to educate the people on their past, on the covenant with God and the expectations God had laid out for them. This provoked revival in the land and a respectful fear among the surrounding nations. These were the golden days for Jehoshaphat, the days of the serene ocean:


The fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, so that they did not make war with Jehoshaphat. Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.
Jehoshaphat became more and more powerful; he built forts and store cities in Judah and had large supplies in the towns of Judah. He also kept experienced fighting men in Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 17:10-13)


But Jehoshaphat had a weakness. He had a desire to see Israel and Judah as one again. He longed to see a better cooperation between the two half-nations. The problem was that God had forsaken Israel and honoured Judah. He did not want Judah to have anything to do with those who had turned their back on him. Israel's fate was already sealed and God did not want Judah sucked down with it. Yet, Jehoshaphat reached out and associated himself with the wicked king of Israel. He sinned against God. This was his own doing.  As a result God gave this word to Jehoshaphat after his close encounter with an assassination attempt:

Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you. There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God. (2 Chronicles 19:2-3)

Because of his inappropriate response to the circumstances of life Jehoshaphat invited trouble into his nation, trouble that he would have to deal with as king. That trouble came in the form of a vast army that was made up of three nations. They had come together to overwhelm this tiny nation of Judah. Make no mistake about it, Judah was only what she was because of the LORD God Almighty because she was too small to be anything on her own. We are only what we are because of Jesus Christ. We are too insignificant to be of any worth or of any concern to the enemy. We too can find ourselves facing an overwhelming situation because we invited it in to our lives, a situation that sends us into panic and fear because it is so much beyond any capacity we have to deal with it. Now consider how Jehoshaphat responded in this impossible situation caused by his own sin.

The first thing he did was call the biggest prayer meeting ever held in Judah. The scriptures say that every man along with his wife and children assembled in Jerusalem and the king stood up and prayed in their presence. But read carefully what he prayed:

O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ (2 Chronicles 20:6-9)

Notice here that the king does not point out all the good things he has done. He does not ask God to save them because they merit it. They do not even pretend to be anything other than his people. What the king does do is lift up who God is. He reminds God of his promises. He keeps his prayer focused on what God has done and what God has promised. He basically asks God to save them because of his unfailing love and that's it. Jehoshaphat understood the heart of God. He presents the situation to God saying basically, here is the storm of all storms that is threatening to wipe your people off the face of the map.

I can't stress enough here the importance of this prayer because so often we either do not call upon Jesus for help because of our past, all our mistakes, with the attitude "God would never help me". Or, we try to point out all the good things we have done and promise to do better in the future thinking we can merit his help. An earthly father will help any of his children, not because they deserve it but simply because they are his children. How much more our perfect heavenly Father. Jehoshaphat ended his prayer with the most powerful statement of faith that can be spoken in the face of an overwhelming storm. In front of everyone in that tiny nation, the king put the fate of the people in God's hands:

O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. (2 Chronicles 20:12)

This prayer moves me every time I consider it because I understand the honesty of it spoken from a man who desired nothing but to serve God. And God did not disappoint.

The LORD God Almighty responded to his children with words of instruction and encouragement:

Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

And he told them:

You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Bot notice here that God did not simply send the army away. The nation still had to face it, they still had to walk through that valley of the shadow of death, but the Lord promised deliverance:

Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel.

He told them:

Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.

The people responded in worship. They were not yet delivered but the word from the Lord was solid for them. They considered themselves saved because of this promise. They were delivered so they worshiped before it actually happened. The next day they went out dressed for battle as the Lord told them to, but they were led by the singers of worship. And the Lord delivered them.

Perhaps not everything we face threatens to destroy us in this manner but everything we face should be dealt with in this same kind of faith. It doesn't matter how the world sees you or what others believe about you. What matters is that your heart is right with God, that you trust him and that you realize that his promises are not based on what you merit but on his unfailing love. Sometimes we have to acknowledge that we do not know what to do and then we need to keep our eyes on Jesus. The writer of Hebrews encouraged us:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

The apostle Paul wrote:

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18)

Our only appropriate response to the storms, be it small or the overwhelming kind, is to call out to God, to trust his promises and to worship that much louder. May the Lord preserve your faith in the days to come.


Pastor Paul Van Buren

To Know You is to Love You

How long have you known God?

Your answer might begin with, "I’ve known God since..."

Perhaps your response would begin with, "I’ve known God for..."

You might even begin with, "I don’t know God at all, but..."

Let me now turn the question around.

How long has God known you?

Let’s examine what He told the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:4-5 (NET) - The Lord said to me, "Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."

This is a difficult concept for us to grasp, but it remains true nonetheless. God in his infinite wisdom knew us before we were even conceived.

Even between the moments of conception and birth, God is at work in our lives.

Psalm 139:13 (NET) - Certainly you made my mind and my heart; you wove me together in my mother’s womb.

Beyond that, He knows us intimately, according to Jesus.

Matthew 10:30 (NET) - "Even all the hairs on your head are numbered."

Regardless of your current age, God knows you better than you might think.

Psalm 139:4 (NET) - Certainly my tongue does not frame a word without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it.

In other words, God knows what you are going to say even before you say it!

What about your salvation?

God not only planned for your salvation, but He planned for it long, long ago.

Ephesians 1:4 (NET) - For He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in His sight in love.

Before God created the world, He planned you and He planned for your salvation.

You are not an accident.

You are not a product of mere chance.

You were planned by God who knew you all along.

You came into being in a remarkable way made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)

You are known by God who knows you better than you know yourself.

Most importantly, He planned for your salvation because He knew you were incapable of saving yourself.

John 3:16-17 (NET) - For this is the way God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.

I do not know how well you know God at this point in your life.

I do know a few things.

God knows you.

God knows you very well.

God loves you and planned for you to be saved.

Perhaps it is time for you to get to know God better.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/

The List

Make a list of great friends

Who else have you saw ten years ago

How many do you still see every day

How many you have not found more ...

Make a list of dreams that had

How much have you given up on dreaming!

How many vows of love forever

How you managed to preserve ...

Where you still recognize

In the last picture or mirror from now?

Today is the way it thought it would be

How many friends you threw away?

How many mysteries that you probed

How could you understand?

How many secrets that you kept

Today they are fools nobody cares?

How many lies do you condemn?

How many did you have to commit?

How many defects remedied with time

They were the best there was in you?

How many songs you did not sing

Today whistles to survive?

How many people you loved

Now believe they love you?

Ecclesiastes is a great book to do us thinks about life! Everybody will have good and bad days. Easy and hard time... we will to love and hate sometimes! As Christian we never can deny that bad days always insist in knock at our doors. Sometimes live is a hard thing. Yes, we are Christian but we stay humans living in a world full of sin and injustice and, early or later these things will touch us. God is good and I know that He will to use until hard things, to do good to us, as bible says "all things are working together for good to those who have love for God".

Well, what can I say?

First: Read the Ecclesiastes’ book

Second: Do what is good and never allow this world gets dirty your character, because: All has been said. Have fear of God and keep his laws; because this is right for every man. God will be judge of every work, with every secret thing, good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14). There are lots things that can touch you and do bad to you BUT remember...your soul nothing can touch, it is yours... care of its!

What profit has a man if he gets all the world with the loss of his life?

How to choose between faith and reason

When he heard the child ask:
And where is the lamb?
His heart bled
When she heard her father say:
God will provide!
His heart feared
And side by side in silence the two wept
Seeing the place of decision coming
A request like that part of the heart
How to choose between faith and reason
When say "no" option is
And faith asks you a Yes
When you need to confront
And the soul wants to escape
It's hard to be like Abraham
And the son deliver
Being Isaac and lie down
About the stones of the altar
When say "no" option is
And faith tells me one: Yes
When I have to face
My souls wants to run away
I need to be like Abraham
And all deliver
Being Isaac and lie down
About the stones of the altar
It takes courage to go up
It takes faith to accept
It takes strength and say: yes
And lying on the stones of the altar

when we read Genesis 22 we can think so many things but I will leave a question...
what have been your choose?!


Do not be afraid, God is sufficient!