All items from Bill Williams - Spiritual Oasis
Here is a link to my daughter-in-law’s new book:
![829171: The Homesteader"s Sweetheart](http://ag.christianbook.com/g/tiny/8/829171.gif "829171: The Homesteader"s Sweetheart") |
The Homesteader’s SweetheartBy Lacy Williams / Steeple Hill Books
To escape a dreaded arranged marriage, Penny Castlerock will face anything-even life on her grandfather’s farm. But it isn’t the rustic lifestyle that’s got the Philadelphia socialite tied in knots. It’s the handsome homesteader and his eight adopted children next door.. |
Buy it for Kindle here:
The Homesteader’s Sweetheart (Love Inspired Historical)
Hebrews chapter 11 is often referred to as the “Hall of Fame of the Faithful.” Pausing to reflect on the lives of the people listed here is both encouraging and instructive. Through their lives we learn the meaning behind the assertion that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. We also learn why lives of faith are pleasing to the Lord: faith leads to obedience from the heart to the Lord’s will for our lives. Thus, the writer of Hebrews summarized this train of thought by stating that “these were all commended for their faith” (Hebrews 11:39). No matter when or where we live, our lives should be characterized by such commendable faith.
God’s unfolding plan
Understanding how this faith is developed is, in my estimation, one of the most important steps we can take towards this end. In addition to the fascinating human drama reported in the Scriptures, the Bible provides an intriguing account of God’s unfolding plan for human salvation. While it is compelling to read the unfolding story, we must realize that the final curtain has not yet fallen. The same God who was at work in the lives of the ancients continues to work in the world today.
The saga continues
As the saga continues to unfold, God’s plan for enfolding new generations becomes apparent. Generation after generation takes its place on the stage. This is not theater, though. It is not make-believe. It is the original, bona fide reality in a world awash with staged reality! As faithful people humbly walk in the will of God, His powerful presence continues to be felt in the lives of emerging generations. The Scriptures continue to confirm these experiences, making the will of God clear and forming a solid foundation for faith.
God is at work
When we reflect on the story, we find that one of God’s chief instruments for influencing history, as well as impacting the lives of individuals, is the family. In fact, the family seems to be God’s chosen entity for nurturing vital faith and developing sacrificial servants.
An excellent example
In 2 Timothy 3:10-16 the Apostle Paul exhorts his ministry apprentice to faithfulness in ministry. At the core of this exhortation Paul writes, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15). Paul zeroes in on the spiritual formation which took place in Timothy’s infancy as a key driving force in his faith-walk as an adult. A statement earlier in the letter sheds much light on how this came about. In 2 Timothy 1:5, Timothy’s mentor wrote: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” The faith of his mothers shaped his life and the lives of many whom Timothy’s ministry touched all the days of his life.
The likeness of Christ
Since God desires for members of the body of Christ to be transformed into the likeness of His Son as we mature, it should not surprise us that one of God’s chosen designations for the body of Christ is FAMILY. Thus, it seems abundantly clear that whether we are looking at the nuclear family or our spiritual family, when things are running according to God’s design, spiritual formation will be prominently evident in both.
The objective is clear
When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy, one of his chief concerns was that this young minister “hold on to faith” (1 Timothy 1:19). His spiritual well-being and his ministry required it! Thus, near the end of this letter, Paul exhorted Timothy: “fight the good fight of the faith” (6:12). In addition to preaching the faith-building message of Christ, keeping the faith seems to be one of Paul’s personal priorities. This is completely understandable, since it is impossible to please God without faith. It also makes clear why the faith-building work taking place in families today is so important.
Questions naturally follow
Against the backdrop of these realities, it seems appropriate to ask, “What are we doing to develop such commendable faith?” Perhaps we could ask, “How do we nurture faith which God would commend in the hearts of our children?” Or, some would interject, “When are we going to realize just how important such faith is to the spiritual health of the body of Christ and individual followers of Christ?”
Commendable faith is nurtured when…
1) When maturing generations realize their responsibility to teach and model faith. (Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Proverbs 31:26; and Hebrews 13:7).
2) When emerging generations are willing to humble themselves, respecting their leaders and imitating their faith. (Proverbs 1:8; 1 Corinthians 11:1; and Hebrews 13:7).
3) When reliance on God is the driving force in our daily lives. (Hebrews 11:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:7; and 3 John 2-4).
4) When the decision to live faithfully is honored above $UCCE$$. (Luke 9:24-25; 1 Corinthians 4:2).
5) When faith building activities take precedence over other things in this life. (Psalm 1:1-6; Psalm 119:11; Romans 10:17; and 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
6) When the evidence of faith is undeniably present in every aspect of our lives. (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; and James 2:14-26).
7) When that which we are purposing in Christ’s service reflects a conviction that God can do more than we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20-21).
A final question
Before the curtain closes on this scene, a question must be asked: “Has your faith led you to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?” (Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:1-2; and Ephesians 2:4-8) There is a great cloud of witnesses urging you to take a God-pleasing step of faith, trusting God to cleans you of your sins by the power of the blood of Jesus, when you believe the Gospel and are baptized into Christ (Mark 16:15-16)
© Bill Williams
Are you living the good life? Christopher Morley once affirmed that the good life consists of three basic ingredients: learning, earning and yearning. To a certain extent, we can agree with this. But, in my estimation, we must insist that there is more to the good life. It seems that Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevski captures this concept when he declares: “Neither man nor nation can exist without a sublime idea.”
Even though life revolves around what we sometimes call the daily grind, it involves much more! We are here to serve and glorify God. We do this by yielding our lives to the Lord, letting Him direct our lives. As jet streams provide steering currents for massive weather systems, the will of God should determine the course of our lives.
In Philippians 2:5-8 we are told that the mind of Christ determined the course of His life and sealed His destiny. If you think about it, you see this at every milestone in His life: at age 12, Luke 2:40; at age 30, Luke 4:1-13; and at age 33, John 17:3.
The up’s and down’s of life sometimes distract us. They can even rob us of a clear vision for the future. If, however, we take yielding our lives to the Lord seriously, we will embrace His vision for our lives. His will for our lives will remain the “steering current” which determines the direction of our lives. This seems to be what Jesus had in mind when He stated: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34).
So, it seems like we should spend a few minutes exploring this topic. This should help us discover God’s sublime idea for our lives.
Where Have All the Visionaries Gone?
How many visionary leaders do you know? Many of us can recall the names of only a handful of visionaries? Some of us even wonder what it means to be a visionary leader.
I once read that a visionary is someone who describes tomorrow’s possibilities as clearly as yesterday’s sunset. Because resistance to change is so common in established institutions, many visionaries have either given up or have moved on to more welcoming environs.
In far too many instances, we have mistakenly adopted a philosophy that resists being part of anything that we cannot control or explain. We cannot conceive of a God who is able to do more than we can conceive. So we presume to limit God’s operation in our lives to that which we can, by mere human insight, comprehend.
Following this line of reasoning, many people conclude that anyone who challenges us to see the sublime is foolishly over zealous and will soon learn better. If I’m correct in these observations, many would hold Christ’s greatest visionary disciple in contempt for following the Holy Spirit’s leading and writing things like what we read in Ephesians 3:20-21…
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, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
If we refuse to be stirred by a sublime vision, that which Paul emphasizes in his prayer becomes a casualty. We must not permit the subterfuge of the sublime; instead, we should promote the two types of visionary thinking described in these verses:
(1) Prayerful Thinking… If we believe that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ASK, we will be doing the ASKING! It’s interesting to note that the root word in the original language for “ask” is aiteo, which means “to call for, crave, or desire.” This speaks of exercising our faith! Several passages underscore the importance of ASKING…
Matthew 7:7-8, “7Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened.”
James 4:2, “You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”
(2) Possibility Thinking… God is able to do immeasurably more than all we IMAGINE. Wow, imagine that! God is bigger than our ability to conceive Him! In this instance, the word translated as “imagine” derives from the root word noieo, which means to exercise the mind. To hear some people tell it, we’ve got to park our brains to be followers of Christ. That’s just not the case. God wants us to exercise our minds. In fact, His ability to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we can think is, in itself, an invitation to let our imaginations run.
What Is Christ’s will for His kingdom people?
God wants us to be able to see the sublime. What’s more? He wants us to be visionaries! Because some of us have known so few visionary leaders, some are left to ask: “How does one act?” To be sure, a visionary is a PATIENT OVERCOMER (a conqueror, one who prevails and gains the victory). This is, in fact, how all who trust in Jesus should see themselves, according to 1 John 5:4b-5, “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Visionaries are nicked by thorns but still smell roses. Visionaries get sand in their shoes but still hear the ocean’s surf. Visionaries are soaked by rain but still anticipate rainbows. —Dale, Keeping the Dream Alive, p. 14.
A visionary follower of Jesus is a PASSIONATE PURSUER, a dream chaser. Our lives are to be characterized with the same intensity as Christ’s. It’s more than a positive mental attitude? It’s being positive about doing God-things! I believe it was Oliver Wendell Holmes that once said that men either act on their passionate vision or risk never living at all! Some people look at the way things are and ask, “Why?” Those who are able to see the sublime look at the way things ought to be and ask, “Why not?”
So, what do you think? Who are the visionary people that you have known? What made them visionaries? How can we encourage one another to live into God’s sublime idea for our lives?
© Bill Williams
As mentioned in the previous post, God definitely does have a sublime idea for our lives. Visionary people are not only aware of this, but are also willing to surrender to it. If you look at Rachel’s comment on the previous post, you’ll see that she was blessed to have a grandfather who embodied this idea. Against this back drop, it seems reasonable that we should ask:
How do we surrender to God’s steering current for our lives and ministries?
First, we must believe our God is a “Can Do” God. Remember the observation of James:
“You have not, because you ask not!”
We must exercise our faith! Maybe I’m getting a bit too personal, but I really must ask: Is your personal prayer life getting flabby do to lack of exercise? Our prayers should also consist of more than vague generalities. If we believe God can do anything, we can trust Him to direct our lives into the flow of His will.
Exercising our faith does involve more than prayer, though. See: Philemon 6. Here we are told that we exercise our faith by sharing our faith! Does your activity in sharing your faith reflect a belief that God is able to do immeasurably more than all that you ask? Do you pray, “Lord, give me open doors…” and then refuse enter? Do you pray for God to give you wisdom and courage to speak out, only to clam up?
Second, we are free to imagine what God can do, according to His power that is at work within us! Therefore, we must exercise our minds! Many of us have already spent far too much time dwelling on why we can’t do too many things for far too long. If God wants us to do something at this place at this time, He will provide the means! God never calls us to do anything that He will not enable us to do! There are many biblical examples of such thinking:
- Noah, Genesis 6-9;
- Gideon, Judges 7-8;
- Paul, Acts 9:15; 26:17b,18; cf: 2 Corinthians 9:8!
If God places a burden on your heart for a particular ministry or labor of love, don’t fret over the things that might not work out. It’s amazing how many good ideas come to those who dwell on the positive rather than the negative. And there is nothing in the entire world more positive than knowing that God is working in our lives!
Third, we must get on board! That’s another way of saying that we have been blessed with one of the greatest opportunities possible for humans. God allows us to join Him in His work in the world. The Gospel train is leaving the station! We’ve been called to get on board! If you think that God can work in and through your life; I you ask God to work in your life; then expect God to work in and through you life!
Did you notice the acrostic? If you Believe God is able; if you Imagine where and how God is at work; and Get on board with what God is doing, then these three things unite to yield something really B – I – G !
The bottom line: God has a sublime idea for our lives. If we will surrender to Him, He will steer us in the direction that we need to go.
Sometimes, though, we just have a hard time doing this. Perhaps this is because we’re trying to be too rational about things. If, however, the imagination is gone from our lives, it will be very hard to see the sublime. What do you think?
The Lord willing, I’ll share a story in my next post that involves one of my children which will help tie all of this together.
© Bill Williams
