Prayer when I can't sleep...Laying aside my hindrances at the feet of my Savior

night

Up in the middle of the night.  All is quiet...except my mind!  All the dark traps of the day, the hindrances to living my life, obstacles to "running my lap in the race of faith," prey upon me...uglinesses like:

She hates me! Her friends hate me too!

I'm overwhelmed.  I can't do it! I'm going to fail!

I'm so depressed.  I think I may go over the edge!

I might as well be invisible...no one understands!

Why is she jealous of me...I'm not trying to compete, just live my life!

Then the prayer, that I've known since childhood, rises up from within:

lit candle

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love;Where there is injury, pardon;Where there is doubt, faith;Where there is despair, hope;Where there is darkness, light;Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seekTo be consoled as to console,To be understood as to understand,To be loved as to love;For it is in giving that we receive;It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;It is in dying that we are born to eternal life. [prayer of St Francis of Assisi]

Yes, Lord!

I am renewed afresh to let You be You in and through me in this world!  Amen.

It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. (author unknown*)

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12 ESV

[*Several people are associated with this proverbial saying, notably John F. Kennedy. It was first spoken in public by Peter Benenson, the English lawyer and founder of Amnesty International, at a Human Rights Day ceremony on 10th December 1961. The candle circled by barbed wire has since become the society's emblem.]

We are Part of Something Bigger than Us! (Hebrews 11)

Hebrews 11

John Eldridge in his book The Sacred Romance says that deep inside of us is a longing for intimacy and adventure.  Here in Hebrews 11, we definitely see both!  The intimacy is with a God who spoke us into existence and now can be trusted to care for us every step of the way (we will see this again in Heb 12). And the adventure...oh my!  We are part of something bigger than ourselves...and that's exciting!  We are in the "race of faith" with a long line of "runners"...some famous, like Abraham and Moses; some infamous and unlikely, like Rahab and Samson; and some unknown, like those who were sawn in two (among other horrors)...people "of whom the world is not worthy," the writer to the Hebrews says (Hebrews 11:38).

What is it enables us to endure, like our fellow runners?  It's faith!  Not the world's kind of faith, which makes faith a work, or a "name it and claim it," or an "entity" in myself that I need to muster up enough of to get what I want.  NO!  As Andrew Murray says, "faith is confessed helplessness, casting itself on God [the living God, the "I Am"] and His promises [which are 'yes and amen!']."

Heb 11:1

So the nature of true, Biblical faith has to do with the unseen and the future.  It is confidence in what we don't see:  God & His promises; not in what we do see:  circumstances, people, things, feelings, etc.

And the outcome of faith is that it puts "a smile on God's face"...it pleases Him.  He puts His stamp of approval on us!  In fact, He so loves to see faith that He witnesses to it in us...He testifies to it in His children.  Remember how God boasted of Job?  "Have you observed my servant Job?"  That's what God does when He sees true faith!

According to Spiro Zodiates in his Word Studies in the NT, the words, "to be approved, to obtain the testimony, obtained the witness" are all the same Greek word in the passive voice (which means someone else does it).  The exciting thing is that God "lauds" [dare I say, "applauds"] us and "reports well" of us because of our faith (which faith, by the way, is a gift, Ephesians 2 :8-9; as is everything in life!)

So this means that God is looking for faith, not perfection!  And that is good news to those of us who worship at the altar of "doing the right thing" or "doing it perfectly."  It may sound so right to be trying so hard to be perfect or get it right, but where is God in that picture?  That sounds more like self-effort and a "works with a smidge of God" type spirituality.

Heb 11:6

As you reflect on these far-from-perfect-people in Hebrews 11, thank God that, despite your "fluctuations of body and soul,"  you can walk by faith TODAY, because HE IS and He rewards those who seek HIM...step by step...by faith!

Hebrews 11 – Ray Stedman

BY FAITH Keith & Kristen Getty

By faith we see the hand of GodIn the light of creation's grand designIn the lives of those who prove His faithfulnessWho walk by faith and not by sight

By faith our fathers roamed the earthWith the power of His promise in their heartsOf a holy city built by God's own handA place where peace and justice reign

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith the prophets saw a dayWhen the longed-for Messiah would appearWith the power to break the chains of sin and deathAnd rise triumphant from the grave

By faith the church was called to goIn the power of the Spirit to the lostTo deliver captives and to preach good newsIn every corner of the earth

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith this mountain shall be movedAnd the power of the gospel shall prevailFor we know in Christ all things are possibleFor all who call upon His name

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight

Hebrews 11: We are Part of Something Bigger than Ourselves!

Hebrews 11

John Eldridge in his book The Sacred Romance says that deep inside of us is a longing for intimacy and adventure.  Here in Hebrews 11, we definitely see both!  The intimacy is with a God who spoke us into existence and now can be trusted to care for us every step of the way (we will see this again in Heb 12). And the adventure...oh my!  We are part of something bigger than ourselves...and that's exciting!  We are in the "race of faith" with a long line of "runners"...some famous, like Abraham and Moses; some infamous and unlikely, like Rahab and Samson; and some unknown, like those who were sawn in two (among other horrors)...people "of whom the world is not worthy," the writer to the Hebrews says (Hebrews 11:38).

What is it enables us to endure, like our fellow runners?  It's faith!  Not the world's kind of faith, which makes faith a work, or a "name it and claim it," or an "entity" in myself that I need to muster up enough of to get what I want.  NO!  As Andrew Murray says, "faith is confessed helplessness, casting itself on God [the living God, the "I Am"] and His promises [which are 'yes and amen!']."

Heb 11:1

So the nature of true, Biblical faith has to do with the unseen and the future.  It is confidence in what we don't see:  God & His promises; not in what we do see:  circumstances, people, things, feelings, etc.

And the outcome of faith is that it puts "a smile on God's face"...it pleases Him.  He puts His stamp of approval on us!  In fact, He so loves to see faith that He witnesses to it in us...He testifies to it in His children.  Remember how God boasted of Job?  "Have you observed my servant Job?"  That's what God does when He sees true faith!

According to Spiro Zodiates in his Word Studies in the NT, the words, "to be approved, to obtain the testimony, obtained the witness" are all the same Greek word in the passive voice (which means someone else does it).  The exciting thing is that God "lauds" [dare I say, "applauds"] us and "reports well" of us because of our faith (which faith, by the way, is a gift, Ephesians 2 :8-9; as is everything in life!)

So this means that God is looking for faith, not perfection!  And that is good news to those of us who worship at the altar of "doing the right thing" or "doing it perfectly."  It may sound so right to be trying so hard to be perfect or get it right, but where is God in that picture?  That sounds more like self-effort and a "works with a smidge of God" type spirituality.

Heb 11:6

As you reflect on these far-from-perfect-people in Hebrews 11, thank God that, despite your "fluctuations of body and soul,"  you can walk by faith TODAY, because HE IS and He rewards those who seek HIM...step by step...by faith!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Homework: Read Hebrews 12:1-24 Answer questions in Hoping for Something Better, p. 201-203 Read chapter 9,  Hoping…

Hebrews 11 – Ray Stedman

Class notes -- BY FAITH…Heb 11

BY FAITH Keith & Kristen Getty

By faith we see the hand of GodIn the light of creation's grand designIn the lives of those who prove His faithfulnessWho walk by faith and not by sight

By faith our fathers roamed the earthWith the power of His promise in their heartsOf a holy city built by God's own handA place where peace and justice reign

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith the prophets saw a dayWhen the longed-for Messiah would appearWith the power to break the chains of sin and deathAnd rise triumphant from the grave

By faith the church was called to goIn the power of the Spirit to the lostTo deliver captives and to preach good newsIn every corner of the earth

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight

By faith this mountain shall be movedAnd the power of the gospel shall prevailFor we know in Christ all things are possibleFor all who call upon His name

We will stand as children of the promiseWe will fix our eyes on Him our soul's rewardTill the race is finished and the work is doneWe'll walk by faith and not by sight