A service of work and a service of waiting

 When I read this portion from Streams in the Dessert the other day and then again this morning, I was so blessed and encouraged by it.  We often think that to be in the service of the Lord is to be doing something, especially something great for God.  But we forget, or maybe are not even aware of the fact, that God at times will call us to serve Him by waiting on Him, by being still before Him, by simply drawing near to Him, doing exactly what He puts before us for that day and nothing more, no matter how insignificant it may seem to us.  If He asks us to do it, then no matter how seemingly small and insignificant the duty, the duty is still ours to be done in joyful and surrendered obedience to the service and glory of the Lord.  God does not see big things and little things.  Every act of obedience is the same in His eyes and they all bring Him glory, even when He commands us to simply wait upon Him.  It often seems that in those times of waiting, silence, and stillness, we often hear the voice of the Lord the clearest and are enabled to draw the nearer to Him in those times as we learn to trust and wait upon Him and to hear His voice better.  Perhaps some of our readers are experiencing a time of waiting in their lives.  I hope this will be an encouragement to some of you.
~Breanna

After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithyma: but the Spirit suffered them not (Acts 16:7).
What a strange prohibition! These men were going into Bithynia just to do Christ's work, and the door is shut against them by Christ's own Spirit.
I, too, have experienced this in certain moments. I have sometimes found myself interrupted in what seemed to me a career of usefulness. Opposition came and forced me to go back, or sickness came and compelled me to retire into a desert apart.
It was hard at such times to leave my work undone when I believed that work to be the service of the Spirit. But I came to remember that the Spirit has not only a service of work, but a service of waiting. I came to see that in the Kingdom of Christ there are not only times for action, but times in which to forbear acting. I came to learn that the desert place apart is often the most useful spot in the varied life of man--more rich in harvest than the seasons in which the corn and wine abounded. I have been taught to thank the blessed Spirit that many a darling Bithynia had to be left unvisited by me.
And so, Thou Divine Spirit, would I still be led by Thee. Still there come to me disappointed prospects of usefulness. Today the door seems to open into life and work for Thee; tomorrow it closes before me just as I am about to enter. Teach me to see another door in the very inaction of the hour. Help me to find in the very prohibition thus to serve Thee, a new opening into Thy service. Inspire me with the knowledge that a man may at times be called to do his duty by doing nothing, to work by keeping still, to serve by waiting. When I remember the power of the "still small voice," I shall not murmur that sometimes the Spirit suffers me not to go.
--George Matheson

"When I cannot understand my Father's leading,
And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate,
I Still I hear that gentle whisper ever
pleading,God is working, God is faithful, ONLY WAIT."

How to Find Courage When All You Feel is Fear (Real Life with Lisa)

Last week we posted a video by Lisa Jacobson from Club 31 Women speaking about hope in the new series she is doing called "Real Life with Lisa".  Her topic this week is

How to Find Courage When All You Feel is Fear

 What a blessing and encouragement this video was to me!  I don't know why fear is something we as human's tend to struggle so much with, but I am so thankful that in Christ we can have peace, confidence and courage in the Lord!  I hope you will also be blessed and encouraged to be courageous!

~Breanna

 http://club31women.com/how-to-find-courage-when-all-you-feel-is-fear-real-life-with-lisa/

Hidden Sanctification of the Soul

 

It is good that we should have to submit to what we do not understand.  It teaches us the laws of faith and hope.  

It is good that we should have to do what we would rather not, in circumstances not of our choice.  

It is good that there should be always something to prick us on, something to remind us that we are in an enemy's country, belong to a marching column.  

It is good that we should meet with checks and failures in what we undertake, to keep us humble and prayerful.  

All these things belong to sowing in tears.

God seems to have laid out the order of things in His Church, not for a general and brilliant triumph but for the hidden sanctification of the individual souls which compose it.

~ Janet Erskine Stuart in Prayer in Faith

~Breanna

Obedience today means God's guidance in tomorrow

 

"Let us not make the mistake of directing our energies toward what is not today's business.  

The best preparation for the future is always the conscientious carrying out of what is given us today.  

Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?  

How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience!  

Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend on it, you will be shown what to do next." 

~Elisabeth Elliot, excerpts from Quest for Love, chapter 20

~Breanna

God's Mysteries ~ Our Discipline and Direction

I was encouraged by reading this piece this morning.  The Lord has clear plans for our lives - blessings, growing experiences, and the exact purpose He created each of us to serve Him in.  We must trust Him always in and for all things.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known."

- Psalm 77:19 -

"And the sea appears to be the most trackless of worlds!  The sea is the very symbol of mystery, the grim dwelling-house of innumerable things that have been lost.  But God's way moves here and there across this trackless wild.  God is never lost among our mysteries.  He knows His way about.  When we are bewildered He sees the road, and He sees the end even from the beginning.  Even the sea, in every part of it, is the Lord's highway.  When His way is in the sea we cannot trace it.  Mystery is part of our appointed discipline.  Uncertainty is to prepare us for a deeper assurance.  The spirit of questioning is one of the ordained means of growth.  And so the bewildering sea is our friend, as some day we shall understand.  We love to 'lie down in green pastures,' and to be led 'beside the still waters,' and God gives us our share of this nourishing rest.  But we need the mysterious sea, the overwhelming experience, the floods of sorrows which we cannot explain.  If we had no sea we should never become robust.  We should remain weaklings to the end of our days.
God takes us out into the deeps.  But His way is in the sea.  He knows the haven, He knows the track, and we shall arrive!"  - J. H. Jowett (from My Daily Meditation, 1914)

"In his early days of learning the ways of the sea an old seaman tells this story on himself.  When out in a boat by himself, he got lost several times.  He was told to use his compass.  Out into the water he went again.  He soon got lost and lay overnight as usual.  Upon being found he was asked why he did not use his compass.  He said he did not dare to.  He wished to go north, and he "Tried hard to make the thing go north, but it wasn't any use; 'twould shake, shake, right around, and point southeast every time."  Many people fail to go the right direction on the sea of life for the very same reason of the mishap which befell our seaman - thy are afraid to take the Captain at His Word and follow the direction in which He points." - M. Taylor
~Streams in the Desert, Volume 2, May 24th

~Brittany

God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea,

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain:

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

- Poem by William Cowper, 1731-1800

~Brittany

Praying and Trusting for God's Guidance

"I urge you to trust God.  He wants to give you the best.

He will help you.  He has promised to guide you.

He knows what you need.  Ask Him to show you.

Pray silently.  Watch quietly."

- Elisabeth Elliot, from her book Keep a Quiet Heart

~Brittany

My Deepest Desire - His Plan, His Design

My Deepest Desire – His Plan, His Design

I do not need to understand His plan

I need only to trust His hand.

Around every corner and bend in the road

It is enough that He knows.

It is His will that I desire

In this confidence I cannot expire.

Through these years He has always faithful been

And He will see my journey to its end.

Beyond all hopes and dreams of mine

It is His will and His design.

His hand has beset me before and behind

And I know in the end I will see His design.

My deepest desire His glory to fulfill

I know He will give me peace in His blessed will.

And as I keep trusting His hand to guide

His plan will unfold before my eyes.

~B.A.A.

~Brittany

Worry Ends Where Faith Begins

~Breanna

Seeing Trials as Opportunites, Blessings, and Real Fulfillments

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Ps. 46:1). The question often comes, "Why didn't He help me sooner?" It is not His order. He must first adjust you to the trouble and cause you to learn your lesson from it. His promise is, "I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him." He must be with you in the trouble first all day and all night. Then He will take you out of it. This will not come till you have stopped being restless and fretful about it and become calm and quiet. Then He will say, "It is enough."
God uses trouble to teach His children precious lessons. They are intended to educate us. When their good work is done, a glorious recompense will come to us through them. There is a sweet joy and a real value in them. He does not regard them as difficulties but as opportunities.
--Selected.

Not always OUT of our troublous times,
And the struggles fierce and grim,
But IN--deeper IN--to our one sure rest,
The place of our peace, in Him.
--Annie Johnson Flint

We once heard a simple old colored man say something that we have never forgotten: "When God tests you, it is a good time for you to test Him by putting His promises to the proof, and claiming from Him just as much as your trials have rendered necessary."

There are two ways of getting out of a trial. One is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of Divine grace. Thus even the adversary becomes an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the furtherance of our way. Surely, this is to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
--A. B. Simpson

- Streams in the Deserts, Vol. 1, for September 7th

"Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" (Ps. 4:1).
This is one of the grandest testimonies ever given by man to the moral government of God. It is not a man's thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering. It is a thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." He declares the sorrows of life to have been themselves the source of life's enlargement.
And have not you and I a thousand times felt this to be true? It is written of Joseph in the dungeon that "the iron entered into his soul." We all feel that what Joseph needed for his soul was just the iron. He had seen only the glitter of the gold. He had been rejoicing in youthful dreams; and dreaming hardens the heart. He who sheds tears over a romance will not be most apt to help reality; real sorrow will be too unpoetic for him. We need the iron to enlarge our nature. The gold is but a vision; the iron is an experience. The chain which unites me to humanity must be an iron chain. That touch of nature which makes the world akin is not joy, but sorrow; gold is partial, but iron is universal.
My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph's dungeon is the road to Joseph's throne. Thou canst not lift the iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee. It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered thee; thy fetters are wings -- wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding of sorrow's chain.
--George Matheson
If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he had never been Egypt's governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the golden chain about his neck.
--Selected
-Streams in the Desert, Vol. 1, for September 8th

~Brittany

Trust~The Secret to Having a Quiet Heart

Will you say to the Lord,

“I am willing to receive what You send,

to lack what You withhold,

to relinquish what You take,

to suffer what You inflict,

and to do what You command

and to be what You require.”?

~Quote shared by Elisabeth Elliot in her message A Loving Providence

~Breanna

Thoughts on Waiting from Elisabeth Elliot

I began to learn to wait.  Patient waiting does not come naturally to most of us, but a great deal is said about it in the Bible.  It is an important discipline for anyone who wants to learn to trust.

I do know that waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question, lifting the hear to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one's thoughts.

Waiting silently is the hardest thing of all.  But the things that we feel most deeply we ought to learn to be silent about, at least until we have talked them over thoroughly with God.

S. D. Gordon, in his Quiet Talks on Prayer, describes waiting.  It means:

Steadfastness, that is holding on;
patience, that is holding back;
expectancy, that is holding one's self in readiness to go or do;
listening, that is holding quiet and still so as to hear.

How long, Lord, must I wait?
Never mind, child.  Trust me.

~ taken from Elisabeth Elliot's book, Passion and Purity

~Brittany

Learning to Trust the Father's Love

When my brother Dave was very small, we spent a week at the seaside in Belmar, New Jersey.  In vain my father tried to persuade the little boy to come into the waves with him and jump, promising to hold him safely and not allow the waves to sweep over his head.  He took me (only a year older) into the ocean and showed Dave how much fun it would be.  Nothing doing.  The ocean was terrifying.  Dave was sure it would mean certain disaster, and he could not trust his father.  On the last day of our vacation he gave in.  He was not swept away, his father held him as promised, and he had far more fun than he could have imagined, whereupon he burst into tears and wailed, "Why didn't you make me go in?"
An early lesson in prayer often comes through an ordeal of fear.  We face impending adversity and we doubt the love, wisdom and power of our Father in heaven.
When the people of Israel were encamped in Pi-hahiroth and saw the Egyptians coming after them, they felt they were looking death in the face and it was all Moses' fault - "as if there weren't enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die!"
"Don't be afaid," said Moses.  "Stand by.  The Lord will fight for you if you'll just be quiet."
You know the story of deliverance.  The song of victory Moses and Israel sang reveals their recognition not only of the strength, majesty and wonder-working of the Lord, but of His loving-kindness, immeasurably  beyond anything they had dared to hope.
Poor Dave!  His father could have forced him to come into the water, but he could not have forced him to relax and enjoy it.  As long as the child insisted on protecting himself, saving the life he was sure he would lose, he could not trust the strong love of his father.  He refused to surrender.  In this simple story we hear echoes of the most ancient story, of the two who, distrusting the word of their Father, fearing that obedience to Him would ultimately bar them from happiness, chose to repudiate their dependence on Him.  Sin, death, destruction for the whole race were the result.
Learning to pray is learning to trust the wisdom, the power, and the love of our Heavenly Father, always so far beyond our dreams.  He knows our need and knows ways to meet it that have never entered our heads.  Things we feel sure we need for happiness may often lead to our ruin.  Things we think will ruin us (the chariots of Egypt, the waters of the sea, or the little waves in Belmar!), if we believe what the Father tells us and surrender ourselves into His strong arms, bring us deliverance and joy.
The only escape from self-love is self-surrender.  "Whoever loses his life for Me will find it" (Matthew 16:25, NIV).  "Dwell in my love.  If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I have heeded my Father's commands and dwell in His love.  I have spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete" (John 15:9-11, NEB).  My father knew far better than his small, fearful, stubborn son what would give him joy.  So does our Heavenly Father.  Whenever I have resisted Him, I have cheated myself, as my little brother did.  Whenever I have yielded, I have found joy.
- taken from Elisabeth Elliot's book, Keep a Quiet Heart
~Brittany

Faith that Triumphs

"We must learn to take God at His Word,

and go straight on in duty,

although we see no way in which we can go forward.

The reason we are so often balked by difficulties

is that we expect to see them removed

before we try to pass through them.

If we would move straight on in faith,

the path would be opened for us.

We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed,

when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles."

- Evening Thoughts, taken from Streams in the Desert, Vol. 1, February 11th

"Faith that goes forward triumphs."

~ Mrs. Charles E. Cowman ~

~Brittany

Trust ~ The Heart Word of Faith

Trust in the Lord and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity!  - Psalm 37:3

"Trust also in him."  - Psalm 35:5

The word trust is the heart word of faith. It is the Old Testament word, the word given to the early and infant stage of faith. The word faith expresses more the act of the will, the word belief the act of the mind or intellect, but trust is the language of the heart. The other has reference more to a truth believed or a thing expected.

 

Trust implies more than this, it sees and feels, and leans upon a person, a great, true, living heart of love. So let us “trust also in him,” through all the delays, in spite of all the difficulties, in the face of all the denials, notwithstanding all the seemings, even when we cannot understand the way, and know not the issue; still “trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass.” The way will open, the right issue will come, the end will be peace, the cloud will be lifted, and the light of an eternal noonday shall shine at last.

 

“Trust and rest when all around thee

Puts thy faith to sorest test;

Let no fear or foe confound thee,

Wait for God and trust and rest.

 

“Trust and rest with heart abiding,

Like a birdling in its nest,

Underneath His feathers hiding,

Fold thy wings and trust and rest.”

 

- Streams in the Dessert, Vol. 1, December 15th

~Brittany

A New Song ~ Praise

This passage has been a blessing and encouragement to me lately.

~Brittany

Exhortation on Worry ~ Looking with Eyes of Thanksgiving and Faith

"Be careful for nothing."

Philippians 4:6

Do you cross rivers before you come to them, dread troubles that never come, expect evil from the Lord instead of good?  In other words is your soul full of unnecessary care?  For that is what the word "careful" means - unnecessary care.
"Do not worry" is a plain and simple command, but it is such a difficult one to follow.  M. D. Babcock has given a few beneficial suggestions for the person who feels defeated because of the common ailment of worry.  "The anxious Christian hurts more than himself; he hurts the faith of those who know him and the good name of his Lord Who has promised to supply all his needs.  There is nothing which we cannot pray about.  Go deeper into the text: 'But in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God.'  What we can take to God we can trust to God.  What we put our fidelity into, He will perfect by His faithfulness.  While we work for the best, He works the best for us.  We may not succeed as we hoped; we may have discipline we little expected, but the Father knows what His child needs.  What God has for us to do we can do, or to bear we can bear.  Is there not enough in His ocean to fill our pitcher?  With the need of every day will come His promised supply - 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'
"Do not forget the words further on in the text: 'with thanksgiving.'  Be on the lookout for mercies.  Blessings brighten when we count them.  Out of determination of the heart the eyes see.  If you want to be gloomy, there's gloom enough to keep you glum; if you want to be glad, there's gleam enough to keep you glad.  Better lose count in enumerating your blessings than lose your blessings in telling your troubles.
"Unbraid the verse into three cords and bind yourself to God with them in trustful, prayerful, thankful bonds, - Anxious for nothing, Prayerful for everything, Thankful for anything - 'and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' "  (from Thoughts for Every-Day Living.)
- Steams in the Desert, Volume 2, December 10th
~Brittany

A few thoughts on waiting...

Waiting means “Steadfastness, that is holding on; patience, that is holding back; expectancy, that is holding the face up; obedience, that is holding one’s self in readiness to go or do; listening, that is holding quiet and still so as to hear.” 

~S. D. Gordon

“I do know that Waiting on God requires

the willingness to bear uncertainty,

to carry within oneself the unanswered question,

lifting the heart to God about it whenever it intrudes upon one’s thoughts.”

~Elisabeth Elliot

~Breanna

Powerful Quotes

"I believe that the happiest & truest of Christians

are those who never dare to doubt God,

but take His Word simply as it stands."
~ Charles Spurgeon ~

"God has so made man's heart that

nothing can ever fill it but God Himself."

~ Charles Spurgeon ~

~Brittany

Waiting and Understanding

I was blessed this evening as I read these portions of Scripture.  I always love taking multiple portions of Scripture and putting them together for a bigger thought.  Though not done in a version our family would prefer, Daily Light on the Daily Path is an excellent way of getting that!  I hope this is a blessing to some of you as well.

~Brittany

 

Morning
Ruth 3:18; Isa. 7:4; Ps. 46:10; John 11:40; Isa. 2:17; Luke 10:39, 42; Isa. 30:15; Ps. 4:4; Ps. 37:7; Ps. 112:7, 8; Isa. 28:16

“Wait, my daughter.”

“Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint.”—“Be still, and know that I am God.”—“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”—The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
Mary… sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching…. “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”—“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”—Ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord. His heart is steady.—“Whoever believes will not be in haste.”

Evening
John 13:7; Deut. 8:2; Ezek. 16:8; Heb. 12:6; 1 Pet. 4:12, 13; 2 Cor. 4:17, 18

“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

“You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.”
“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love;… I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.”—“The Lord disciplines the one he loves.”
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.—This slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.