God's Strength Made Whole in Our Weakness

Good  morning to all on this blessed Tuesday morning. Waine and I are in Atlanta and guess what, we had a white Christmas! It snowed on Christmas morning and the snow is still on the ground. We have had record lows through out the east coast of America and the storm front that extended from Florida to Maine also affected Atlanta. Our daughter Melanie lives in Portland with her family and even she didn't have a white Christmas. Waine and I took great delight in calling each of our married children and reminding them that we had something they didn't--a white Christmas. Waine and I spent the 3 days before Christmas with Freddie and his family and got to watch Kai open up one of his Christmas presents. His first response was "whoa" and the delight on his face when he saw his gift (a Toy Story fort) is what makes Christmas magic for Waine and I. Violet, Waine's mother, spent the Christmas weekend with us and even went swimming with us on Sunday--not bad for an 88 year woman! Continue to pray for ET and his family and for his healing. January 4th is the day he goes in for his CT scan and possible surgery. You have been with him on this journey for the past 4 months; the goal is in sight so continue to push with him to the finish line. Please also pray for JKS who has a rash that will not go away. Pray for her healing and the wisdom of the doctor's who care for her. Christ's strength is made whole in our weakness which is something that Satan would have us forget.

I am continuing my journey in Romans chapter 9 verses 6-18, "It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by Him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." May God add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word, amen and amen.

It takes some spiritual maturity to understand what Paul is getting at here and it took me about a week to wrap my mind and heart around these verses because Paul is describing a God I do not know. The God I know is all about Mercy and Grace, those Twin Towers of  my faith. The God being described here is a God with a Plan for Mankind before Grace and Mercy. God had to save man from the Sin that occurred in the Garden and He, God, worked through man to do so. God had to set up the lineage from which Christ would come and it started with Abraham and Sarah, which in and of itself seems simple until "man" again steps in and thinks he/her has a better plan. Abraham and Sarah wondered how a child could come from a man in his 100's and a woman in her 90's and instead of trusting they decided they needed to help God. Their plan was put into place and thus begot Ismael who was not God's promised child but because he was a child of Abraham, Ismael's offspring would prosper and thrive and to this day the Arab nation is thriving and warring with the offspring of Issac, the fruit of Abraham and Sarah's union. Why men think that God needs help is beyond me. There is something specific about our sin nature that thinks it has to "help" God with His plans. Do not be fooled, this is the arrogance of sin.  When we think like that just know that the first being who thought like that was Lucifer-Satan himself--when you are in a space and time in your life and are waiting on the fulfillment of God's promise for your life you will be tempted to help God. That is the time to get quiet and WAIT ON THE LORD! In fact, don't just wait rejoice in your waiting because when you do God's plans will be fulfilled in your life.

I wrote about the swimmer who was only 50 yards from his goal of crossing the English Channel when the "fog" set in. I am that swimmer and I feel, most recently, that I am operating in a fog. It has been a challenge for me to keep my inner strength and perspective as I wait upon the Lord. In my waiting I have had to pray for patience; most recently I prayed for supernatural kindness for those who I ordinarily would not want to be kind to and although I did not "feel" kind I knew that my prayers and desires were the offerings that God wanted me to give. The fog has not cleared but this morning I awoke and decided it didn't matter that I couldn't see the other shore; it only mattered that I knew it was there and I knew that the God who loves me will have me at the other shore in His Own Timing and not on mine. Now I can lament that I am still in this "channel"; I can lament the fairness or unfairness of it. I can lament why I find myself where I am at this point in my life or I can celebrate that I have a life and it is full because I have a man that loves me; I have children who are healthy and happy; I have grandchildren who will remember and speak my name; and when I leave this life I have a life in eternity with the One that conceived me in Love. When my mother and father conceived me, God called my name and set into motion my life and the richness that would be mine. I have been Abraham, Sarah, Rebbecca and Issac in my life--trying to help God when no help was needed or asked for; and still God love me and I have a rich and fulfilling life. Therein lies the lesson, we don't have to Help God help us. We have to love God, really love God by reading His word, speaking His name in Reverence and believing in His Promises which have been fulfilled through Christ. This is Kingdom building and that is our JOB.

Do you love God today? Then stop believing in your power to correct and let God have His way. It is not too late for you or me because each minute we breathe is a minute in which we can set into  motion the course correction needed for our lives and we will cross the "channel". To Know Him is to Love Him; To Love Him is to Serve Him. To Know Him is to Love Him; to Love Him is to Serve You. When I embrace this concept I will have arrived on my other shore, how about you?

Have a blessed day and speak His name and claim your victory.

Stephanie