“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God...and HIS righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matt. 6:33)

Those two passages above have truly been pivotal promises that I’ve seen God honor in my life in HUGE ways over the years. The second one coming to life when I put God first early on and was willing to end a very dear relationship at the time If... that was His will. (Yesterday’s post).

I do believe we can have those “Abraham-Isaac” moments when God will indeed test our hearts to make sure He has all of it, first and foremost. This faith walk just doesn't work well if we don’t love Him with ALL our hearts and surrender it all to Him. Have you ever had a car in desperate need of a front end alignment? The longer you wait, the quicker those costly tires will wear out. So it is with our hearts when they are not perfectly aligned with God and His will; it will wear your faith out quickly.

That first passage of promise though, from Ps. 84...was not one I gave much thought to, even though I had heard it before. But right after the boys were born, I was getting ready to return home after several days of bonding with our first and only grandkids. My heart was aching in a bad way. I stood out in the dark morning waiting on my Uber driver to take me to the airport before sunrise and I was pleading with the Lord to help fill these two giant holes those boys had burrowed deep in to my heart. And it was just one word, and one word alone that I heard the Holy Spirit whisper to me...and the moment I heard it, I knew exactly what God was telling me.

That word was ...”Careful!” In other words - Don’t let any person, place, or thing replace Me as the source of your joy and happiness. I could almost sense the tug of His loving hand pull my shirt sleeve as if He was steering me back in to my ‘lane’. Message received loud and clear. And I thanked Him for that gentle reminder. But that still did not stop the tears that were filling my eyes as I pulled out, not sure when I would see the boys again. Then I heard that whisper of promise...’no good thing will I withhold...to those who walk uprightly before Me.”

I knew...those boys were not only a good 'thing', they were a wonderful blessing; yet...I had no idea how God could work out such a miracle where we could be a part of their lives. I mean, they lived in California of all places...and we were in Texas.

But...God! And here we are today living out a dream orchestrated by the One who still rules and reigns in the lives of those who call upon His name. Another ‘miracle’ that came to pass which I never in a million years saw coming.

Yes...another link in my own personal testimony of how God has made Himself known and present in my life. If you have been reading along the past few days, I have revisited my own personal story relaying to you how my walk of faith in coming to Jesus was so transformative and life changing. And what a journey it has been. I will also be the first one to tell you there were some darker chapters in this story along the way but it certainly had nothing to do with that being God’s idea or plan. Another story for another day perhaps.

Paul oftentimes began his preaching and proclaiming the gospel by sharing what had happened to him on that road to Damascus. Then, he would launch off sharing the message God had given him to teach so that others too...could be “turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” (Acts 26:12-18)

And while everyone’s story is different, in how they first came to the Lord, there is something to be said about going back from time to time...to the very beginning, and revisiting what God did in those early days in us. If you remember the post from the other day, that is what Jesus advised that church at Ephesus to do...given how they had drifted from their ‘first love’. (Rev. 2:4-5)

When I had my personal ‘awakening’ almost four years ago now, it was truly a “Lazarus moment” for me as I have shared regularly here with you. The Lord truly brought me back from the ‘dead’, spiritually, after a long hiatus of just going through the motions for so long. And through this incredible process of displaying His patient love for me in ‘bringing me back’, sort of like that prodigal son story, He has often pointed back to those early days of my faith when I first came to Him; which is why I find myself sharing this story with whoever will listen.

Julie Andrews in ‘The Sound of Music’ said it well, or sang it, I suppose...that sometimes you need to just go back to the beginning. I bet this tune will stick with you today....“Let's start at the very beginning A very good place to start - When you read, you begin with A-B-C - When you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi...”

No personal testimony though, no matter how grand it might sound...can ever come close to replacing the gospel of Jesus Christ. God’s word is the Only word that truly matters. A personal experience is just that...personal. But within that story, when core truths that are embedded in the gospels are evident, then they should be shared ...not to replace the gospel, but simply to compliment it, if that is a suitable way to explain it. In other words, God had me revisit my story over and over again in that first six months of my awakening...as if to remind me once again of some vital points I had forgotten over time. Hopefully you will find no reason to take exception to these three points and agree they are perfectly aligned with the gospel Jesus came preaching along with His message of repentance. (Matt. 4:17)

Lesson 1 that I learned within hours of receiving Christ in to my life, was that I lived in a spiritual world where powers of darkness were real and active in ways I could have never seen or known outside of God revealing this to me. Remember...the devil comes immediately... (Luke 8:11-12; Eph. 6:12; 1 John 5:18-19; Acts 26:18). We are not told to ‘ignore’ the devil; we are commanded to ‘resist’ him. (James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8-9; Eph. 4:27)) We are also taught in scripture that prior to coming to the Lord, our 'minds were blinded' or veiled, by the 'god of this age', but 'when anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away'. (2 Cor. 4:3-4; 3:16)

Lesson 2 that I learned was when God begins to point out ‘sin’ in our lives, it is with the intent that we will acknowledge it, confess it, then turn or repent of it. As in, we don’t do it anymore. For some reason, we fail to ‘get that’. We think that there are just sins we will do over and over and then be forgiven over and over and that is to be expected. Folks...that is not what ‘repentance’ is! Nowhere in scripture will you find Jesus saying ‘sin less’; on the contrary, it was ‘sin no more’. (John 5:14; 8:11; Matt. 5:48; Rom. 13:14). And when He points out those areas, He fully intends for you to turn from them and overcome them. But here’s the good part...He knows you can’t do this in your own strength and power. It is only by His grace can you do this. (Eph. 2:8; Tit. 1:11-12).

Something else I have learned... We don’t get to pick the ‘order’ in which He leads us on dealing with those areas in our lives that need removing. Nor did the Israelites get to choose which enemies they would deal with first in removing them from the promised land. They tried that in one place and it did not go well for them. Remember, He is now Lord...and the Good Shepherd. Let Him do what He does best...and lead. (John 10:27; Ps. 23:1-3; Luke 6:46; Rom. 8:14)

Lesson 3 was the really big one for me. It’s easy to tell others (and ourselves) that we have ‘given our hearts to Jesus’. But make no mistake about it...He will test you on this. (Deut. 8:2; 1 Thess. 2:4). God has a way of ‘calling our hand’. And if you read my post from yesterday, the way in which God did this with me, after me ‘offering Kathy up to Him’, was one of the greatest gifts He gave me. I can tell you without batting one eye of doubt...that in my 43 years of marriage, I have never doubted once...that He put us together. Not for one moment have I ever questioned that.

So to recap: We live in a world flooded with spiritual forces of darkness that we best not ignore. When God points out sin, we better deal with it, as in repent/turn from it. And this idea of ‘coming to Jesus’ includes that often overlooked ‘detail’ in that we have to come to Him with our whole heart. It simply will not work any other way. Just ask that young, rich ruler in Matt. 19. Jesus is either going to be ‘Lord of All’, or Not...Lord at all.

Do you know what the Lord was teaching me as a foundational truth in those early stages of my coming to Him... before I landed in a local church? I was being taught by Him to ‘abide in Him’. (John 15:1-8). “Flesh and blood was not revealing’ these things to me, my Father in heaven was. (Matt. 16:17). He does that with His new ‘babes’; and for good reason. (Luke 10:21)

This all began some 44 years ago. Did I continue to abide in Him all that time? Well, it pains me to say this but...No, I did not. So what happened to me? Well...that’s a good question and I am willing to answer that. But this next statement, in response to that will not be easy to receive or digest. And at the risk of losing some of you and being sorely misunderstood, I will tell you what happened in closing here. (I will also include some passages of scripture for you to go look up and read, and then encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to begin to prepare your heart for what I will share tomorrow, Lord willing.). 

So what happened to me? 

“Church”... happened.

I hope you will hear me out on what I need to share with you. And before I sign off, let’s try to find some common ground we can all agree to stand on: 1 – just because a building where people meet and sing hymns and even quote the Bible does not always mean God is a part of that, yes? And 2- I would hope you would agree that a person can be quite busy in a ‘congregation’ and be faithful in attending and even giving...yet not...be abiding in Christ. 

 Spend some time with these passages and we will pick up here tomorrow.... (2 Cor. 11:2-4; Mark 7:5-16; Matt. 23:15)