A Blessing of Trust: Obedience



"but those who hope in the LORD will...soar on wings like eagles"
Isaiah 40:31 NIV

     There is an important connection between trust and obedience which makes a world of difference in the lives of Christ followers. For when we truly trust the goodness of God we believe in His Word and we are eager to obey Him. The flip side of course is doubt which paralyzes and produces disobedience. How so? When God tells us to do something, not acting as instructed is rebellion.  The compounded consequence is the immeasurable loss of blessing which is tethered to obedience and the vast riches of growing deeper in relationship with our Heavenly Father.  

     We could list many reasons why obedience is not our first response when the LORD calls us to His side in service. Yet, regardless of how many excuses we conjure up, the truth is each proclaims the same reality; we do not have enough trust in God and His Word over that area of our life to act.

     The stinging experience of facing my own anemic trust in the LORD was a turning point in my relationship with the Holy Trinity. For all my reading and studying of the Scriptures, I had a disconnect between my heart and my head. I knew the Word but I had not come to believe the word for me. The result was a lag in my obedience which is the same as disobedience. There were simply times I was afraid to do what God asked me. So I foolishly ignored the Spirit’s prompting. Other times I delayed responding until it was convenient and the opportunity was lost. I have no idea what adventure or glory for the LORD was lost by my disobedience nor can I measure the loss of intimacy with the Father my submission would have produced. But judging by the blessings associated with acts of immediate service in my life, I believe the loss is substantial. The Bible illustrates this principle again and again. For example, Abraham was quick to obey God’s call to sacrifice his son Isaac and the blessings of his single act of submission out-number the stars in the heavens! Graciously God does not leave us guessing what produced Abraham’s astounding obedience to this call. His Word states clearly it was Abraham’s faith, his trust in the goodness, faithfulness and power of God which empowered him to do the unthinkable, (Genesis 22).

    So how do we gain trust in God which will produce immediate obedience like Abraham? First we must spend time getting to know God. That means we read the Bible which is God’s primary and eternal revelation of Himself. Second, we ask the Holy Spirit to teach us the nature of God at work in every verse and how to apply it to our lives.  After all, the historical accounts of the LORD’s faithfulness to do what He says He would do are provided as evidence of His sovereignty, omnipotence and omnipresence. In short they prove Almighty God alone is worthy of our worship but most importantly our trust. Third we ask the LORD to heal us of any unbelief which may hinder our obedience, (Mar 9:24). For, when we believe as Jesus instructed Thomas; “Stop doubting and believe,” we are empowered like the obedient servants in the Bible! (John 20:27NIV). Soon the idea of walking on water, healing the sick, or even raising the dead become possible in the name of Jesus Christ and we are free to respond immediately to God’s call. (Mar 5:29), (Acts 9:15-18), (Acts 9:34), (Acts 10:33), (Acts 16:33), (Acts 22:17-21).

     I have found it true in my own journey of faith that the more trust expressed in my walk, the more intimate the LORD is with me. Greater intimacy produces deeper desire to surrender and serve. And though there are still times when I blow it and miss an opportunity to draw nearer to God, I find comfort in knowing His mercies “are new every morning”(Lam 3:22-23).

     Let us rejoice in the truth that Jesus did not die on the cross that we might be burdened with the weight of our weakness but that through repentance we would soar by His power! (Isa 40:31)

Tracy L. Frazier

Director/Founder
The FOLD Ministry

For further insight and teaching view the inspirational videos below.

Video Clip: Shelia Walsh : Beautiful Things Happen When a Women Trusts God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWbkcH3VhXM

 

Worship Music Video: Chelsea Moon w/The Franz Bros - Trust and Obey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrSCxfnN2B8

Writing on a Promise

           

            Do you know how many God proclaimed promises there are written in the Bible? How about in the New Testament? The truth is many Christians would find it difficult to answer that question without doing some kind of web search. I was determined to put myself to the challenge of recalling as many promises as I could. I started with fervor, tapping the keyboard of my laptop in a continuous cadence for several minutes. Scriptures were flying through my head and I was feeling good about my recall. After a few minutes an occasional pause broke my rhythm and soon the stream of scriptures slowed to a trickle. Ten minutes into the challenge I was nearly dried up. After fifteen minutes I had a sound sixty-five promises on my list!

            You can imagine my disappointment when I learned there were 250 promises in the New Testament. The number triples to 750 if you count repeats. Most of the promises are for the believer in Christ, but there are many for the non-believers also. For example Jesus promises to those who acknowledge Him before man, He will acknowledge them before His Father. But Jesus also promises that he will not acknowledge those who do not acknowledge him before man, (Matt. 10:32). I find these numbers incredible, especially considering these numbers only represent half of God’s written Word.

            So, why does it matter how many promises I can recall from the Bible? Because trying to live the victorious Christian life without complete information is like trying to finish a puzzle with half the pieces missing. The designed finished product will be incomplete no matter how efficiently I handle the ones I have. Each promise thereby represents an important part of the big picture and our story. If these precious truths are left unrealized how might the portrait of our life be effected? This question actually unsettles me.

            Author and Speaker, Lisa Bevere challenges the believer to know well the numerous promises the LORD has given us in His Word. Lisa emphasizes in her message Proverbs 3:3 which states;

             “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on    the tablet of your heart.”

            The promise we have from the LORD when we put this verse into practice is found in Proverbs 3:4;

            “Then you will win favor and a good name with God and man.”

            The principle then of learning these promises and believing them with all our heart, mind and soul is that they will begin to determine our story. Our lives will be infused with confidence and power because we trust what God says is truth. Belief will produce resolve which will bring about action which results in “favor with God and man,” (Proverbs 3:4).

            Lisa poignantly presents the promise of Proverbs 3:3-4; when we write the Word of God on our heart we take control of writing out our life stories…and we write them well!

            So how many of God’s promises can you recall? Chances are there are some that have slipped your mind. I’m resolved to accept Lisa’s challenge to begin writing God’s promises on my heart. Won’t you join me? Not just transferring information from the Bible to our heads, but accepting each promise as everlasting certainty. For Jesus says “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my Word will never pass away”. Ladies that is a promise worth binding around our neck!   

Tracy L. Frazier
Director/Founder The FOLD Ministry

For further insight and teaching view the inspirational videos below.

 Video Clip: Lisa Bevere: Writing the Future (Words of Life)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0JcrXq2PYQ

Worship Music Video: Sanctus Real: Promises

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pB_jxGYXRw

 

Empowered by GRACE

 

Living the Extraordinary Life
 

      “My grace is sufficient for you” is the LORD’s response to one of the Apostle Paul’s prayers for empowerment in his area of weakness, (2 Cr 12:9 NIV). What may appear as a cool response to a passionate plea actually reveals the power we are to live by and its source.  The reality is God plants within every Believer at their moment of salvation the fullness of Christ’s grace; His might, His wisdom, even His awesome ability to love. Everything the disciples need to accomplish God’s will in their lives rest in the declaration of 2 Corinthians 12:9. The LORD tells us why his grace is sufficient; “for my power is made perfect in weakness,” (2 Cr 12:9 NIV). Thus the abundant life we were created to live is intentionally yoked to our weakness. But what does God mean by weakness?

     Of all the words granted to us for communication and expression, three dominate our culture, “I am tired”.  We hear them every day from family, friends and co-workers. Some of us utter them regularly. This statement acts like a mantra of our generation. We state it over and over until we find ourselves under the spell of fatigue and living life in a state of lethargy. Whether young, old, working, retired, single or married the burden of weariness weighs us down and presses from our lips the tragedy of our lives, we are "tired." But is exhaustion what God meant as weakness?

      John Bevere hits the grace nail on the head in his new book, Extraordinary: The Life You're Meant to Live. With awesome insight John speaks to the impotent lives of Believers who strive in their own strength to persevere through life, when we were never expected to endure by our own strength but by faith in the One who is able to do all things. John's message is that faith--which is belief in God and His ability alone--is what opens the floodgates to the flow of abundant grace in our lives. He emphasizes it is our measure of faith which determines the level of grace we allow to empower us to live extraordinarily. Weakness is our human dependency on God.

      The all sufficient grace of God is planted in every Believer. But as John points out, it is our faith in this divine deposit of the Almighty’s power which is truly anemic. Why? John reasons that “Christians read what they believe and do not believe what they read,” in the Word of God.  Simply our faith tanks are small and running on low…some on empty…when it comes to accepting we can walk on water, heal the blind, even raise the dead. In other words the minds focused on and wrestling with doubt and fear dam the flow of grace, tire the body and oppress the spirit. Yet God’s Word tells us that through our faith...by believing...we can do extraordinary things. We can not only live the abundant life, we can display the awesome grace of God according to His will.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do       whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it,” (John 14:12-14).

      Beholding this truth and accepting it as the Believer’s reality, opens up the floodgates of Heaven; releasing the power, wisdom, love and peace of God. Grace Jesus longs to flow through our lives. Belief begins the flow of abundance. Faith empowers our weakness and we become an awesome force of grace in a lethargic world: A life of power which brings glory to God the Father. Why? Because it will be marked with extraordinary “greater things than these” of which Jesus did in His earthly ministry. Is this the kind of life we are living as followers of Christ?

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus           throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen,” (Ephesians 3:20-21NIV).

       So…are you tired of being tired? Me too! It is time to confess unbelief, repent of fatigued faith and show the world what it really looks like to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for the glory of our God!

Amen!

Tracy Frazier
Director/Founder of The FOLD

For further insight and teaching view the inspirational videos below.

 

Video Clip: Crossroads/Full Circle TV: guest John Bevere

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL1U2gh8NHg  (1 of 3)

Video Message: Lakewood Church: guest speaker John Bevere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA4g5mHtAnQ

Worship Music Video: Chris Tomlin - Your Grace Is Enough For Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtnE_e1LylY

 

 

Soaring in the Son

Summer has come at last! It is time to hang the chimes, pamper our toes and squeeze basket amounts of citrus. While temperatures rise, so do our dreams of blissful days basking in golden rays. We imagine ourselves on exotic vacations even staycations floating in casual comfort, sipping tranquility and dripping with laughter. The season which draws us outdoors into extended day and entices with sweet fruit also invites us to play.

When I was a little girl my three sisters and I would leave our inland home to spend summers at the beach with our Dad. While our father worked, we took to the sand; two lathered in baby oil resolved to become bronze beauties while the younger two braved shimmering wonders. The sunny shores were a wide open and endless playground where our adventurous spirits could soar like seagulls. Back then white capped waves were glorious playmates which tossed us about as we squealed with glee. I can recall our long blonde locks matted with sand whipping about our faces as we flew colorful kites. Days were spent designing castles and digging for crabs, fishing from the jetty and exploring under stilted homes at low tide. Tiny toes traipsed upon the beach before sunrise to catch sand dollars on the shore until long after sunset when they danced around campfires.

Summer then was a bright eyed beauty which beckoned me to play, explore and sing. I eagerly took her hand and skipped on warm planks until our season of soaring came to a close. With my bag packed for our trip back home I would don socks and shoes once more. A hearty loot of seaside treasures carefully cradled in my lap made the parting less painful and later prompted memories of freedom when school schedules set in.

Over the years my friendship with the shore had been battered by the storms of life. The dangers of the deep clouded the once sunny skies and the waves upon which I surfed now carried the ashes of my Dad. Though thirty minutes away, I seldom spend summer days on the shore and never enter the water.

Last week at the request of my son I chaperoned he and his friends on a trip to the beach. After the final bell of the school year, they were climbing into my car with smiles and anticipation for the summer ahead. While they enjoyed their long leash of freedom on the pier, I took off my sandals and took to the sand. The sensation took me back to younger days when I was free of fear and braved the waves. The sights and smells beckoned me remember as I walked once again on spitting wet sand and through sizzling foam.

This side of salvation it was not Summer which bathed me in radiant light that day. It was my heavenly Father’s love. There on the sand I wrestled with the past as memories like waves washed over me again and again. Old fears began to swell as the retreating water washed the sand out from under my feet. Though I wanted to retreat myself to dry ground my spirit was reminded that I stood upon the Rock of Christ; my iniquities which threatened to drag me out to dark depths of death rested at the bottom of the sea. Once more I stood free on the shore. The breeze carried sweet sentiments to my ear and cool sprays of saltwater to my lips. I had no need to fear for my Father was near; His faithful eyes ever upon me past, present and future.

There and then I turned on the sand and found that which was lovely became dazzling when facing the sun. The water’s shades of deep blue and the white foam were changed to gold, amber and red. A glorious example of what a life looks like when facing the Son. God certainly does make all things new!

This summer I resolve to visit the beach often and allow the child in me freedom to soar once more. I will take to the sand holding my husband’s hand, dig for sand crabs with my grandchildren and fly kites with my son. I will wade in the water and watch peacefully as those I love surf. I will let my golden locks whip in the wind and lick the salt off my lips while I soak up the Son, His Word and sunshine. 

May we all have a summer of soaring in the Son!

 

Detoured on My Way Hwy

 

The thought of God’s will paving through our daily circumstances and encounters is pleasant and lifting most of the time. That is until His plan detours our own. One day we are pleased with our route and without warning God allows or produces a hearty interruption in our journey. Wheels screech to a halt, the road is closed before us and we are suddenly redirected. Our trip down “My Way Hwy” is stalled and we are forced to reconsider our position and destination before again moving forward.

Priscilla Shirer shares in her study titled          Life Interrupted  that these interruptions are God’s intimate ways of bringing about His best in our life. Of course we understand the concept of biblical principles at work in our circumstances. Still these interruptions can often feel like accidents or traffic traumas which leave us in shock in the middle of the road. So what are we to do when life is interrupted and we are given a map through unfamiliar, uncomfortable or even frightful territory?

First we seek the LORD in prayer. Nothing we experience gets around God’s sovereignty. Therefore it is imperative that we cry out to our Heavenly Father for insight and discernment in our circumstance. He has either allowed the interruption or orchestrated it to bring about His will in our life. Second we will come through the interruption well when we yield to God’s map. As the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:12-13 shares that he had to learn to be content in every circumstance through the power of Christ, we also should strive to be content before, during and after interruptions. Third we must trust the purpose of God for the interruption. Our Heavenly Father desires more than we can comprehend to bring us to a spiritual wholeness. Everything spoken to us through His Word and by His Holy Spirit is meant to teach us of His ways and encourage us through His hands on the wheel process of sanctification. God’s goal is good and while His path is narrow it is the only road which leads to Home. Finally we should hold onto the hope that each challenging interruption has potential to lead us to more than we could ever imagine. As we submit to God’s plan for our life and humbly journey through our days with the LORD, blessings will be ours in great measure; peace, joy, rest, contentment and purpose shaken, pressed down even overflowing.

The choice is ours. We do not have to let Jesus navigate. Yet, through my own experience of gripping the wheel and charting my course I have learned spiritual summits are never reached via smooth roads. They are usually experienced through life interruptions which send us off road and through bumpier terrain.     

For example when I was fifteen my mother lost her battle with cancer. Just two weeks before her fortieth birthday she had to say good-bye to four daughters and her first grandchild still in the womb. Cancer interrupted all our lives and forced us to travel a road of despair. After my mother’s passing, my life continued to be rerouted by interruptions. Unfortunately, what was meant to navigate me into the arms of divine comfort left me embittered and broken down on the road. I rejected the invitation to follow Christ’s route to salvation and instead bought a ticket on a fast train in the opposite direction.

Like Jonah I wanted nothing to do with God’s plan. His interruptions and map thus far had only produced heartache and sorrow according to my GPS. Little did I know that act of rebellion would lead me into treacherous territory, like Jonah’s raging sea. I too would narrowly escape with my life. In a moment of desperation and spiritual bleakness Jesus extended grace; offering once again to be my guide. I wholeheartedly embraced His interruption with relief and gratitude (For I was very tired of navigating life on my own).

I pray you will seek the LORD’s direction when your journey is interrupted with detours and closed roads. Though your ultimate destination is not meant to be reached in this world, Jesus promises following His course will bless you with the BEST ride of your life!  

Tracy L. Frazier

Director/Founder of The FOLD: Fellowship Opportunity for Ladies Discipleship

 

Video: Priscilla Shirer – Life Interrupted

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z__D_dr5Ivc

 

Music Video: Carrie Underwood – Jesus Take the Wheel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lydBPm2KRaU

Scripture: Jonah 1:1-3; The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:  “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”  But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.  He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying for the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.

 

A Miracle of Jesus

 

     Within each miracle of Christ I see a proclamation of more than divine power: there is also a distinct revelation of our Heavenly Father’s message of “Good News” in every miraculous encounter. For example, like water to wine, Jesus desires to change us from lost sheep to the Bride of Christ. Like loaves and fish He creates abundance from our meager lives so that we might bless the multitudes.  He empties mute mouths of evil and fills them with words of praise and testimony; in order to spread the hope of Truth. Through the one man from the group of ten healed who returns to thank Jesus, we see how few will turn and seek our Redeemer; though Jesus died for us all. I see in Peter’s amazing catch of fish an illustration of how God wants to use our talents for His glory. Likewise, a single coin in the belly of a fish reminds us that when we obey the LORD’s instructions, He will meet our every need.

     When I contemplate the miracles Jesus performed among the multitudes I see more than opened eyes and strengthened limbs, I see miraculous compassion: Love which is compelled to flow from a source of pure goodness. “For while we were yet sinners,” Jesus loved us completely. Holding nothing back but His wrath and disdain for our sin, the LORD stepped out from the Holy of Hollies. Veiled by flesh He touched His creation with pure devotion. Though we were not priests, had not passed through the Sea and our hands were stained crimson, the Almighty drew us near. More than healing came from Jesus’ embrace.  Hope of becoming a miracle was born in the hearts of man.

     Imagine the hope of each person in Jesus’ midst as they wondered what miracle He might have for them. They gathered round, some stood in lines, all stood in awe but few heard His message. Yet, every miraculous healing was meant to convey the reality there is much more to life as we know it; more to see, hear, and walk through in this life, but only to be experienced through Jesus. Even Christ’s exorcisms proclaim His gospel truth. For sin leads to spiritual oppression, paralysis, blindness and destruction; only Jesus can free us from the oppression of evil and sin.  

     The nature of God to create life, nurture and sustain it, is powerfully put before us in His miracles of raising Lazarus from the tomb, the widow’s son, and Jairus’s daughter from the dead. These three miracles proclaim that eternal life through resurrection is God’s desire for us all; first for Christ and then for His sons and daughters. And God makes it clear eternal life does not begin at the grave but at the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. God’s compassion compelled Him to take the nails in our place that we might live as He intended.

     Accept the love of God as a sinner redeemed by the pierced hands and feet of the LORD and become His next miracle! Soon the love of God will pour into your life and the miracles your read on the pages of your bible will be part of your testimony. You will become a new creation in Christ. Your life will take on new meaning. You will desire to share the Good News of Jesus with others. You will see and hear things differently and turn from old patterns of thinking and living to follow Jesus.  You will seek to serve God by using your gifts. Obedience to Christ will no longer be an option but a desire and your rest will be found in the LORD.        

     Indeed, our hope is not based solely on the testimony of the Truth in the Holy Scriptures but on the power of Christ’s miraculous work in us day after day. I am a continuous miracle. You can be one as well.

That is the “Good News” at its best!    

Tracy L. Frazier
Director/Founder of The FOLD Ministry

For further contemplation watch the short Inspirational Video and music video below.

Video: Nick Vugicic - Truth on the Go: If You Can't Get A Miracle, Become One

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJwHSGjjifg

Worship Music Video: Prince of Egypt - When You Believe 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gur8ccqrQ9c

Overcoming Offense

My command is this: Love each other
 as I have loved you. (John 15:12)

     When Jesus began his earthly ministry He interestingly invited men of the sea rather than of the Temple to be His disciples. James and John along with Simon Peter and Andrew--four fishermen who spent their days casting their nets into the water-- accepted Christ’s call to become fishers of men. Early in their discipleship, brothers James and John (whom Jesus nicknamed Son’s of Thunder), took offense when a Samaritan town rejected Jesus (Luke 9). Angrily they sought permission from the LORD to call down fire from heave to destroy these offenders, just as Elijah had once done against the prophets of Baal. However Jesus quickly rebuked them and revealed His ministry was about saving souls, not destroying them. The Son’s of Thunder would learn in time the art of casting love before men rather than destruction.

     In his book The Bait of Satan, author and Christian speaker John Bevere reminds the Church that our enemy the devil is also fishing for souls. Not only does our foe seek to hook us and destroy our testimony, he desires to reel us away from the Father and abundant life. According to Bevere, one of the baits the enemy uses to lure us is offense: an unkind word, rejection, exclusion or any kind of betrayal blinds us to the devil’s horrid hook before us. Like fish which swim circles around a tempting morsel, we can allow our minds to mull over an offense until our hearts desire to bite back. Before we know it, we are caught in trouble and the enemy gains control over us.  Jesus did say we would have trouble in this life because the days of man are filled with darkness and evil. But our Savior also told us not to fear;  “But take heart! I have overcome the world,” and Jesus did so on the cross (John 16:33NIV).

     Christ’s death on the cross was far more than an act of obedience to the Father’s will. Jesus’ sacrificial death was the greatest act of love ever expressed in our world. Undeniably love is the mightiest power known to man. Consider how Jesus held great power, but His might was both expressed and contained by His amazing love. When He healed it was driven by love. When Jesus rebuked it was guided by His love. Astoundingly, our LORD beholds the power to create, control or destroy anything, and yet all His acts are rooted in love. Notably, it is love which overcame the Son’s fear as he knelt in the garden of Gethsemane burdened with the plan of man’s redemption. Likewise, it was God’s devotion which compelled Him to die upon the cross. And it is love which continually and will forevermore conquer the devil’s dark influence over man.

      Simply stated, with Jesus there is no trickery or deception in the Father’s plan: no hook to fear. There is but love in all its forms and expressions to behold and abide in.  When we face the offenses of man cast before us by Satan, we have a choice: forgive and maintain our freedom to abide in the Living Water or take the bait of offense and be caught by the devil. Bevere points to Jesus’ warning that one of the signs of the end of the age is the hardening of hearts between brothers and sisters in the Church. Because of being offended many in the faith are prophesied to fall prey to cold hearts and false teachers (Matt. 4:9-13).

     Jesus proclaims the world would know His followers by the way they loved on another, (John 13:35). By the end of his life the Apostle John had learned well Jesus’ technique for saving the souls of man. For, the Son of Thunder in his latter days was known as the Apostle of Love.

Oh, Father, may it be the same for us!

 Tracy L. Frazier

Director/Founder of The FOLD: Fellowship Opportunity for Ladies Discipleship

 

Video: Full Circle;  Free From the Trap of Offense - 1/4 - John Bevere

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8g1By-89iIw
 

Music Video: Natalie Grant – Perfect People

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFDl-KWu-XQ

 

Scripture: Ephesians 4:30-32; And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of god, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving eachother, just as in Christ God forgave you.”