What Are You Standing In?

Good Morning BSW (Bible Study for Women) women!  Felt such a surge to get on the blog and talk to you today.  Why?  Because a memory verse I have been working on this week has brought something to my attention. 

I have a question for you.  What are you standing in right now?  Perhaps you are smack dab in the midst of a pile of bills that looms larger then available funds to cover them.  Maybe you find yourself in the aftermath of a series of unfortunate circumstances that has set your mind reeling.   Or quite possibly, you are consumed with the plain old business of life wondering how you are going to make it through the day. You have a list that demands more energy or time then you can afford.   What are you standing in?

Over this last year, maybe some of you have found my nature a bit irritating as I led Women’s Bible Study on Tuesday mornings.  I am aware that I have the ability to get under some people’s spiritual skins.  I have on more then one occasion pushed and plodded many of you to step out of your comfort zone and live life beyond yourself.  I am pleased to see that many of you have responded to that initiation and I know that you have been blessed because of it.  But lest I go down in the annals of history solely as the bossy Bible study leader from Monmouth Worship Center, I thought I would bring to light the motivation behind my method.

“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.”  2 Corinthians 1:24

These words were penned by none other then Paul the Apostle.  I just love this guy.  He always said things plainly.  I appreciate it when people put things to me simply.  A blunt statement of truth is sometimes just the ticket I need to get my act together.  Be careful though if you try this tactic at home.  Paul was also the same writer that encouraged the church at Ephesus to speak the truth in love.  Make sure the person that you are endeavoring to encourage with aforementioned frankness knows you love them or you might end up with a rather radical response.  The kind that might make you want to duck. 

The point is while I might seem to be exhausting as I push and plod you out of your comfortable place of rest I want you to know that I “work with you for your joy”.  I dare say there ain’t nothing like stepping out beyond your ability and watching God step in.  While I am not talking about radical irresponsible kinds of ventures, I am talking about the kind of thing that grows your faith in God.  The kind of thing that says I am going to believe God in this rather then in what I think or what other people tell me.  Like:

“I am going to believe that God will help me memorize His word”

“I am going to believe that God loves me beyond what is measureable”

“I am going to step out in my gifts and cultivate them even when I fail.”

“I am going to believe God even when it seems like nothing is happening.”

“I am going to believe that God is equipping me to lead Women’s Bible study even though I have no idea what I am doing.” (ok that might be personal)

But you get the picture.  There is no greater joy then walking by faith and not by sight.  By believing God for something and watching Him work it out by living beyond yourself in the realm of the Spirit.  We say that we want to live in the fullness of the spirit but that can only happen by faith. 

 “because it is by faith you stand firm”. 

What are you standing in?  This verse does not say that it is by circumstances that you stand firm.  It does not say that it is by having a big bank account you stand firm.  It doesn’t even say that if you get everything done on your “to do” list you stand firm.  It is by faith in God that you stand firm.  Faith that He is “working out everything in conformity to the good purpose of His will, that we who were the first to believe in Christ might be the praise of His glory”. 

The days that we are living in are fraught with uncertainty and doubt.  They are supposed to be that way.  It is what the Word tells us.  If we continue to stand in what we see and feel, we will not be standing firm.  We will be rocked.  Ladies, I am absolutely determined that you live in the fullness of what God has for you because I “work with you for your joy”.  I know that what God has ordained through a life of faith is what He has set our hearts on and anything less then that will not satisfy.  My motivation as I prod and push you is your joy.  I so desperately want you to taste the fullness of what God has for you.  My prayer is that I achieve that end even at the risk of sounding a little bossy.

What are you standing in?

“Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best minds.  Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hand on the doorlatch they die outside.”

                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson