One of my favorite things about being a mom, teacher and youth pastor's wife is learning from the kids. I am inspired when the Holy Spirit teaches me while I am trying to teach little ones and impressed when teenagers take their knowledge and share it with the world. I am blessed to be a part of God's work in the lives of young Christians.
My husband and I have experienced a rough six years and though we were praying for the end of this season, the past six months have proved that our rain is still pouring. I pray that through it all God receives the glory from our actions, inactions and hearts. I find myself before His throne confessing and pleading as David did, that he would search me, know me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. God faithfully answers this prayer, as His word promises, and I have sought forgiveness from those I have hurt and God has blessed me with sound sleep as I lay my head down each night, right in His eyes.
And yet, I still feel daggers of attack, most recently through harsh, critical words. My initial reaction is to use my words and defend myself. I want to answer each attack with my side of the story and gather witnesses to prove my points. And, yet, through Godly wisdom of my family, prayer partner and accountability partner, I remain silent. God is telling me to be quiet. To be still. To know that He is God.
Amazingly enough, I'm okay with this. I say amazing because God is used to me wanting my own way. He is used to me trying to rationalize why my way is the better way. I bet He even expects me to cry through my arguing with Him, all the while knowing that my bark is always bigger than my bite! He has known me so long!
Tonight as I strolled through facebook, I find one of our teenagers status that is one of my Wam Bam Walla (Thanks, Tammy Whitehurst! :) ) verses. 2 Timothy 1:7 which says that "God did not give us the spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-discipline."
A comment was made about the contradiction of spirit of timidity verse and the meek shall inherit the earth. So, as a good teacher, I went to the dictionary and discovered that timidity means lacking in self-assurance, courage, or bravery; easily alarmed; timorous; shy...fearful. While being meek means humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.
Light bulb!! The humility of meekness through biting words and comments of others is only possible because the Holy Spirit did not give us the spirit of timidity.
Gotta love it when it all comes together! The Bible never contradicts itself...it confirms itself!
My friend went on to say in a comment, "When we became Christians, Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Titus 3:3-7). The Spirit lives in us, making our bodies a Temple (1 Cor. 6:19-20) and blessing us in many ways (Romans 8). We can be courageous people even in the face of attack, criticism, and ridicule because of the Spirit's presence. The fruit that the Spirit produces (Gal. 5:22-23) and the love that the Spirit pours into our heart (Rom. 5:5) do not make us weak. Instead, the Spirit's presence is a powerful force to help us overcome sin (Rom. 8:13) and live self-disciplined lives."
So, even though I want to shout from the rooftops, I am contentedly silent. I choose to allow the "Spirit's presence to be a powerful force to help me...live a self-disciplined life" in "the face of attack, criticism and ridicule" because the Holy Spirit is alive and well inside of me.
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2 comments:
Great post, Sister! Thanks for sharing it. Oh, and in the face of criticism and unfair attack may I recommend Psalm 37.
Oh, my sweet Gay.....God is putting us through fire and testing, also. Going on 4 yrs., it seems like forever, and yet, God continues to prove Himself faithful, and be our wonderful Provider, Jehovah Jireh. We, too, are very much trying to be obedient, and wait. Waiting is so hard to do, and I get very weary of all the testing, and attacks thrown by our Enemy. But our God is a victorious God, and He will not allow us to be too weary, for He then comes and takes over and fights the battles for us. The key, I have found, is in radical obedience. It is the absolute hardest thing in the world, but the absolute most rewarding. I love knowing I have done the right thing even though the outcome is much different than what I have imagined it to be! I have claimed the verse in Jeremiah....oh, I can't remember where. "Ah, Lord God , Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power. Nothing is too hard for you" And you are in the safest place in the world when you are in God's will...love you guys and I know you are doing God's bidding. Keep up the great work....I will pray for you today :) Mae Krug :)
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