This is what the Lord showed to me this weekend. Past all my troubles, problems, attitude that needs to be majorly adjusted, feelings, circumstances.. His glory and His character remain. There's honestly nothing we can do to stop it.
Sometimes there just comes a time in our hardship (for me, the fact that I am the one to break generational sin) where we just have to believe. Believe that He can mend, that He can restore, that He can comfort. That He can bring ones back to Him who have at one time loved and honored Him but now whose hearts are far from Him.
The word "pretense" came to my mind this weekend. The entry from the Online Etymology Dictionary is as follows: early 15c., "the putting forth of a claim," from M.Fr. pretensse, from fem. of L.L. prætensus, from L. prætensus, pp. of prætendere (see pretend). Meaning "false or hypocritical profession" is from 1540s. Pretension is c.1600 meaning "assertion;" sense of "ostentation" is from 1727.
It's amazing how we can take the truths that God has put forth in His book or in our hearts and twist them around in order to throw ourselves a pity party or to gain sympathy from others. I guess this is what I was doing without totally realizing it. The entry "false or hypocritical profession" is hitting home right now.
In our Beth Moore Believing God series, there are five truths we've been practicing and clinging to.
1. God is Who He says He is.
2. I am who God says I am.
3. God can do what He says He can do.
4. I can do all things in Christ.
5. God's Word is alive and active in me.
Number 2 hit me like a bullet the other night as I was crying on my bed. I am who God says I am! I am His beloved, His precious child, part of His royal priesthood .
I also felt like I received the commission of "Encourager". I have felt for a long time that at some point in my earthly life I will be an intercessor.. praying on others' behalf. The Lord revealed to me that I have to learn how to encourage others before I can intercede for them. Encouraging someone validates their feelings and provides an emotional pathway by empathy to that person that goes beyond a simple "hi".
Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking out own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
"Encourage" come from a Greek word that means, "to call near, be of good comfort, to pray, to invoke God, to exhort, admonish, to provide consolation, to make glad, rejoice".
It's much more than a simple, "Good job!" but it's specific. It's spoken of the Holy Spirit. And it's crucial for edifying the Church.
This is my prayer and desire: to continue in my preparation for whatever God has for me, for whatever He has for me together with my husband, so that I (we) will be ready!
Simplification, Contentment, Obedience, Encouragement, and Intercession. This is the will of God.
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