GodandMe2theMax

Hurt on the court?

Psalm 55:22  "Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall."

A few years ago I was coaching a volleyball game when one of my girls got hurt on the court.  When it was apparent she was not able to continue playing, her dad came on to the court to her rescue.  He is a big firefighter, but a gentle giant.  He assessed his daughter's situation, and then scooped her up into his arms and carried her off the court.  It was an incredibly moving sight to see.

That's the image I get when I read this verse.  It says you should "cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you."  Just like my player cried out to her daddy for help, we should do the same to our Heavenly Daddy.  When we do, He scoops us into His arms and sustains us.  He never let's the righteous fall.

With that said, however, how many times do we cast our cares on Him, but instead we try to bear our own burdens?  Giving it all up and over to Him, and leaving it with Him is not easy.  But the verse for this week promises us that God will sustain us.  It doesn't say to cast our cares on God and we'll be able to handle things a little better.  No, it doesn't even say to tell God all about it and you'll be able manage through the tough times. 

The notes in my NIV Study Bible for a similar passage in I Peter 5:7 say it better than I can:  "Carrying your worries, stresses, and daily struggles by yourself show that you have not trusted God fully with your life.  It takes humility, however, to recognize that God cares, to admit your need, and to let other in God's family help you.  sometimes we think that struggles caused by our on sin and foolishness are not God's concern.  But when we turn to God in repentance, He will bear the weight even of those struggles.  Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity.  Don't submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances."

So here's the question.  Are you going to let our Heavenly Firefighter scoop you up off the court?  Are you going to cry out to Him, cast your cares on Him, and let Him sustain you?  I hope you'll evaluate life's circumstances, your reaction to them, and see if you're allowing this verse to be true in your life.  Definitely for me, I've got a lot of evaluating to do!

 

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

 

 

 

 

Do you have a green thumb?

Isaiah 58:11  "The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."

A green thumb I do not have; a black one I do.  I have never been very successful at not killing a plant in my home.  Well, make that with the exception of one special plant that was given to me when I had cancer.  Both my husband and I are both shocked that it is still alive, thanks to him more than me, three years and counting now.

What does a plant need to grow?  Two simple things - water and exposure to the sun.  When it doesn't get one or both of these things, it slowly fades and eventually loses life. Why do plants die?  Truthfully, it's not because we have a knack for plants, the real reason is because of lack of discipline, attention, and care for the plant on our part.   So really, is "I don't have a green thumb" an actual excuse?  (I don't think I'll ever be able to use that one again!)

Hmmm.  Isn't that the same thing with our Christian walk?   In order to keep growing, what do we need?  We need fed and exposure to the Son, Jesus Christ.  If we don't continue to get these things, just like a plant, we will fade, leaving our soul into a drought.  Yes, that "black thumb" can be self-imposed, because of our own lack of discipline and attention to spiritual matters.

But the good news is that God always has a green thumb.  All we have to do is to turn to Him.  Re-read the verse for this week and listen to what He does (paraphrased):  The Lord will guide us continually.  He will satisfy our soul during a drought.  He will strengthen our bones, and we will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water that never runs dry! 

Are you feeling like a weak plant lately, starving for water, strength fading, leaves turning brown?  Are you in a spiritual drought?  I'm so glad God has the never ending supply of "miracle grow."  Just turn to Him and be disciplined to give your spiritual life what it needs.  Turn to Him.  Discipline yourself to "water" yourself each day.  I don't know about you, but I want to keep growing.  I'm so thankful for this reminder that God's springs of water never run dry.

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

 

Fearing God like Niagara Falls...

Psalm 25:14  "The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them."

I have a friend who emailed me recently, sharing some very poignant details in her life.  These are details that she's not proud of, but she knew I would not judge her and that I would pray for her.  She considered me a good enough friend to share these intimate details, and that left me humbled.  She confided in me, and although the news she was sharing wasn't good, it left me feeling good about our friendship.

You've probably been there.  A friend has poured out their heart to you.  Good or bad situation, the friendship and intimacy you have with your friend when confidence is shared is a feeling you can't really describe.  Now transfer that feeling to the Lord.  The verse for this week says "The Lord confides in those who fear Him."

I just love this verse.  To think that God would think so highly of me that He would reveal His secrets to me!  If I feel good when a friend confides in me, how much more should I feel if God confides in me!  And what do I need to do for Him to confide in me?  I need to fear Him.

Fear.  "A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, or pain."  But that's not the fear God is talking about here.  No, this fear is that reverent respect and awe for God kind of fear.  When I try to think of an example of how to describe it, I think about Niagara Falls.  I grew up just a few hours away from this great site, and if you've ever seen Niagara Falls in person, it doesn't take long for you to realize you need to fear it.  Water flows from Niagara Falls at a rate of 150,000 gallons per second.  That's like pouring 83 swimming pools full of water over the falls per second!  That's a lot of water!

Whenever I visit the Falls, it's standard protocol to pay a visit to the most popular attraction, the "Maid of the Mist."  It's a "must do," especially for first time visitors to the falls.  The "Maid of the Mist" takes you on a boat ride down the Niagara River, getting as close to the awesome power of the falls that you would want to get.  It's there, staring at this majestic wonder of God's handiwork, being soaked from the splashes of it's downpour, that you understand the Biblical meaning of fear.  I can't help but look at Niagara Falls and think of God's awesome power.  That's how God wants us to respect Him, His power, and who He is.  This is the kind of fear that the verse is talking about. 

You see, sometimes we talk to God flippantly.  We take Him for granted.  We forget just about how mighty and powerful He is.  We expect Him to answer our pleas and come to our beckon call.  I'm not proud of it, but I'm one of those people who do just that.  Guilty as charged.  But when we approach Him with fear, when we remember who we are and our position in Him, the verse says He will make His promises (covenants) known to us. 

I don't know about you, but I would consider it an honor to have God confide in me.  Just like the feeling I have when a friend shares her innermost heart, if God Almighty shared with me His plan and thoughts about me, well, there's no words to really describe that feeling.  As I spend time in prayer with God this week, and as I work to memorize this verse, I'm asking God to remind me to approach Him with this Niagara Falls kind of fear.  What an honor it would be for God to confide in me, all because I love Him and fear Him.

 

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

 

 



 

Monday Memory Verse - I Peter 5:10 - Spiritual Wipeout

I Peter 5:10  "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

Have you ever seen the television show Wipeout?  It's where contestants go through a brutal obstacle course, with traps and distractions thrown at them along the way, in hopes that they will stumble, take longer to finish, and possibly even give up.  We've watched it a number of times, and it's not uncommon to see at least one contestant make it all the way to the finals, only to give up because they can't seem to overcome the challenging course.  Now, don't get me wrong, if I were a contestant, I would probably give up in the first round.  It's a brutal way to win money, being punched in the face with obstacles, catapulted through the sky into raging waters, jumping from platform to platform while cement is poured on you.  Yes, those are just a few of the things the contestants have to overcome.  Bottom line, the one with the best time in the final wins $50,000.  It's quite the entertaining show, but as I started to think about the verse to focus on this week, it's also a good parallel to life.

To understand the verse to memorize for this week a little better, I want to back up to verses eight and nine.  Peter says "Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings."  Then verse ten,  "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

Sometimes this life we live is just like Wipeout.  Satan is throwing distractions at our life, trying to mess up our secure footing, trying to get our eyes off the prize, even trying to make us give up.  We may get hit with satan's cement, making it feel like we're stuck and can't keep moving forward.  We may get catapulted into the raging waters and feel like we're alone out there.  But the Bible says we need to have self control and be alert and aware that he's out there trying to attack. He would want nothing more than for a Christian to give up on their calling to follow Christ.  He wants nothing more than to wipeout a Christian.

But verse nine says we should resist him and stand firm in our faith.  It also reminds us that there are other Christians going through this same struggles that we're facing.  Of course God is there to help us get through tough times, but He also gives us Christian friends for support and encouragement!

Then the verse to memorize for this week, verse ten.  After we've suffered a little while, God will restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast.  How encouraging is that?  Yes, we may go through some sufferings, satan may even throw some pretty difficult obstacles our way and try to wipe us out, but God promises that He will give us the strength to finish the course.  He puts our feet on a rock and gives us a firm foundation!  (PSalm 40:2)

Are you facing spiritual wipeout today?  Are you wanting to give up?  Remember these verses as you memorize this week.  Be alert and ready to stand against the attacks of satan.  Rely on the Godly friends that God has placed in your life.  And  don't forget that God is going to help you get through the course.  You can't do it by yourself, it's only through His power that you will have the strength you need.  No, I'm determined I will not wipeout for God.  How about you?

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com

Against All Hope...Not with God!

Against all hope.  Have you ever faced this kind of situation in your life?  You can't possibly see an "out" to what you're going through?  Things look so impossible that you don't know how you'll make it?

I can remember back when we first moved to Texas.  We were faith-based missionaries, which means we raised all of our financial income from family and friends.  When we moved here, we had about 80% of the support we needed, but within a few months, that dropped substantially.  There was one Saturday evening that my husband came to me and said, "Well, do you want the good news or the bad news?"  Now, if you know me, I hate that kind of thing.  Just tell me like it is--and in a hurry!  I noticed he had both hands filled with papers.  He stretched out one hand and said, "Well, we have enough money to pay our tithe at church tomorrow and enough for our mortgage that's due on Monday."  I kind of knew what was coming next, but I had to ask, "And the bad news?"  Frank then outstretched the other hand and said we had about $1000 of bills that were due by Wednesday."  Of course, we stopped and prayed for the situation, but not about what to do.  I remember commenting that God didn't bring us all the way to Texas to ruin our perfect credit we had worked to maintain all our married life.  No, we didn't pray for wisdom on what to do, that was a no-brainer, we would pay our mortgage and tithe. 

What happened in the next 48 hours was something only God could do.  You see, we told no one of our situation.  Not a soul.  But God knew, and He's the only One who counts.  On Sunday morning, someone walked up to us with an envelope.  He said that when he was praying the night before, the Lord told him to give that money to us.  His family had never given to our ministry in the past, nor have they since.  When we opened the envelope, we found $500 enclosed.  Later at church, someone else gave us a check, and Monday morning in the mail, we had yet another check, received unexpectantly.  On Wednesday, when our bills were due, we had exactly to the penny enough money to pay them.  God is a pretty amazing mathematician, isn't He?  I heard someone say this last weekend that He has Divine Math.  That is the only way to explain how He worked in our situation that looked hopeless.

This morning I was reading in Romans chapter four, and my eyes were drawn to verses eighteen to twenty-one.  "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."

If anyone was facing a hopeless situation, it was Abraham.  But the Bible says that against all hope, he believed.  He had almost everything going against him, he was old, his wife was not only old but also barren...key words: almost everything going against him.  Because if God was for him, who could be against him?  (Romans 8)

I don't know about you, but sometimes it's easy to lose focus on God's promises in my life.  Sometimes I need just a little reminder of how providential God is.  Patience in seeing God's plan is not my best virtue.  I said it earlier, I hate surprises...just tell me like it is, so I can process things and deal with them.  But God doesn't work like that, and even though it's against my nature, for that, I'm thankful.  I'm glad He alone knows the future for me, and right now, I jut need to rest in His promises.  There's hundreds of them throughout Scripture, but here's just a few I can think of:

Hebrews 13:5  "I will never leave you or forsake you."
Proverbs 1:33 "Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm."
Matthew 11:28  "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Isaiah 40:29  "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."
Psalm 32:8  "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go, I will counsel you and watch over you."
Jeremiah 29:13  "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with your whole heart."
Philippians 4:7  "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Lamentations 3:22-24  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him.'"
Jeremiah 33:3  "Call unto Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know."
I John 5:14  "This is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."
I John 1:9  "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
James 1:5  "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."
Zephaniah 3:17  "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you.  He will quiet you with His love.  he will rejoice over you with singing."
Psalm 147:3  "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."
Ephesians 3:20  "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us."

Against all hope?  No light at the end of the tunnel?  Never, with God.  I'm so thankful for God's Word, the Bible, and for the promises it contains.  I definitely needed the reminder from Abraham this morning!  My God is faithful!

---Beth Banfill
www.GodandMe2theMax.com