Tomorrow is Wednesday. Once again I will get "fed" by my Bible Study. Before I get too much information, and forget all the good things I learned this week, I wanted to blog a little. The challenge (in case you didn't read the last post) was to ask God what characteristic of Him that you have. I had never thought about it before. Of course I would have at least one characteristic from Him. He is my Heavenly Father. I have characteristics from both of my earthly parents. There is also the fact that He very clearly made us in his image. (Genesis 1:27) At first I thought this would be a very difficult thing to do. Wouldn't you know that God works in His time. I had been having a difficult couple of weeks, and shared this with my Bible Study friends. I was feeling personally "attacked" and couldn't quite figure out why. Thoughts that were not usually my own would keep creeping into my mind. I knew they were not of God, but as people always do, I tried to justify it as something that God would want. Instead of listening to what I know is the truth about what God wants, and leaning on the character I know of God. I know what He would want because it is in His character to want what is good, and pleasing. Our mind has a way of twisting things to justify what we think we want, or what someone else makes us think we want, and making it what God wants. God knew that I really needed this time in Bible Study, and gave me just what I needed.
By Thursday noon, my back was aching and just wouldn't stop. This happens from time to time as we get older, but this particular ache was just plain annoying. It wouldn't stop. I couldn't get comfortable, no matter what I would do, or how I would move. Finally, in an attempt to stretch out I got flat on my stomach on the floor. I was surprised at how quickly the pain went away. I didn't dare move because it would hurt, and of course I didn't want that. While I have my face buried in the carpet, I think that this would be a perfect time to ask God what He thinks. Obviously He wanted me there at that moment. Even though there was a lot of noise in the room, and things going on, I was still able to talk with Him as if we were alone. In those few minutes that I spent with Him, I found out so much. The first thing was that the characteristic that I have from God is Faith. I knew this because as immediately as the answer came to me, I wanted to reject it. You see, I didn't behave like someone with a faith like God just the night before. I broke down. I confessed to my closest friends that my faith was weak. That I wasn't sure if I could do the things that God asked of me. I wasn't sure if I had the strength to do what I knew was right. Then God made it clear to me. What better way for Satan to attack than to attack the one thing that is most like God. Why would Satan attack my artistic ability. I am not good with paint or pencil. I am not an artist or a poet. Satan could attack those things all day long, and it wouldn't affect me. But to attack the one thing that I associate with God only takes me further from Him. I was reminded of this again in my daily Bible reading when I was reading about Adam and Eve. Eve had eternal life in the garden. She had a very close, personal relationship with God. Satan attacked that I told her that God wanted something else. That God's intentions weren't what they really were. It all became clear to me then. Instead of the last two weeks being just a bad couple of weeks, because my faith was shaken, and I wasn't trusting God as I used to, I realized that it was actually an attack on me. God hadn't changed. I was just made to think that He had.
The other thing that I learned is that I have such better odds now that I have God on my side. Here is a good example. I have been married for almost 10 years. I have only had a personal relationship with God for about 5 of those years. God said to me "Don't you think that with me on your side, you can last longer and do more than you could without me in your life?" WOW! I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about it before. Life is dramatically different than it was 10 years ago. My life hasn't been boring by any means. So many things have happened. So much of my life was lived before I REALLY knew God. Now that I know Him, I was wanting to give up on what He wanted me to do. How amazing that He would be so open in revealing that to me. After our talk on the floor.....my back felt better, and it hasn't bothered me yet.
By Thursday noon, my back was aching and just wouldn't stop. This happens from time to time as we get older, but this particular ache was just plain annoying. It wouldn't stop. I couldn't get comfortable, no matter what I would do, or how I would move. Finally, in an attempt to stretch out I got flat on my stomach on the floor. I was surprised at how quickly the pain went away. I didn't dare move because it would hurt, and of course I didn't want that. While I have my face buried in the carpet, I think that this would be a perfect time to ask God what He thinks. Obviously He wanted me there at that moment. Even though there was a lot of noise in the room, and things going on, I was still able to talk with Him as if we were alone. In those few minutes that I spent with Him, I found out so much. The first thing was that the characteristic that I have from God is Faith. I knew this because as immediately as the answer came to me, I wanted to reject it. You see, I didn't behave like someone with a faith like God just the night before. I broke down. I confessed to my closest friends that my faith was weak. That I wasn't sure if I could do the things that God asked of me. I wasn't sure if I had the strength to do what I knew was right. Then God made it clear to me. What better way for Satan to attack than to attack the one thing that is most like God. Why would Satan attack my artistic ability. I am not good with paint or pencil. I am not an artist or a poet. Satan could attack those things all day long, and it wouldn't affect me. But to attack the one thing that I associate with God only takes me further from Him. I was reminded of this again in my daily Bible reading when I was reading about Adam and Eve. Eve had eternal life in the garden. She had a very close, personal relationship with God. Satan attacked that I told her that God wanted something else. That God's intentions weren't what they really were. It all became clear to me then. Instead of the last two weeks being just a bad couple of weeks, because my faith was shaken, and I wasn't trusting God as I used to, I realized that it was actually an attack on me. God hadn't changed. I was just made to think that He had.
The other thing that I learned is that I have such better odds now that I have God on my side. Here is a good example. I have been married for almost 10 years. I have only had a personal relationship with God for about 5 of those years. God said to me "Don't you think that with me on your side, you can last longer and do more than you could without me in your life?" WOW! I couldn't believe I hadn't thought about it before. Life is dramatically different than it was 10 years ago. My life hasn't been boring by any means. So many things have happened. So much of my life was lived before I REALLY knew God. Now that I know Him, I was wanting to give up on what He wanted me to do. How amazing that He would be so open in revealing that to me. After our talk on the floor.....my back felt better, and it hasn't bothered me yet.
