Stop Waivering

Stop Waivering

Hey Ladies!

Long time no blog. My bad. I have no excuse. Bummer about not being able to meet this past Monday due to the weather (have I ever mentioned how much I *dislike* snow and cold?!). I was pretty pumped about the last lesson in our Wake Up series, so I thought I would take a blogging opportunity and give you the much condensed version of the lesson. 🙂

Were any of you ever spanked as a child? I’m not ashamed to admit (maybe I should be) that I was spanked quite often. I was a very busy child and oftentimes my busyness got me in trouble. My mom was the spanker in the house. Bless her heart, God love her for not giving up on me, I gave her plenty of reasons to. My mom did something unique whenever a discipline need presented itself. She would spank me, and then she would hug me and tell me she loved me. A hug after a spank. The reason for the discipline was always explained and the hug assured me that no matter what the offense was, I was still her child and she loved me dearly. The last lesson in our Wake Up series was intended to be the hug after the ‘spanking’ we have taken all semester. (smile)

We spent a lot of time talking about the Israelites in the time of King Josiah and how they followed after God, but only in pretense. Their hearts were actually far from God (2 Chronicles 34-35; Jeremiah 3:10). We talked a lot about choices this semester – are we willing to tear down the Jesus idol that we have built in our own image? Are we going to be honest about the spiritual adultery we have committed? As I was thinking though all of this the phrase “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him” came to me. (You can read the whole story in 1 Kings 18 – one of my all time favs!) I did a little reading on the word waver and it means “to halt” and “to limp”. The word picture here is of someone with one leg shorter than the other. Interesting, don’t you think? Is the Church limping back and forth between two opinions? Are we seeking after our own desires and then limping into church on Sunday mornings? When will we decide to follow the one true God – wholeheartedly?

In Revelation 3:2, Jesus says “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” I have asked myself a lot lately, “what remains?” What was Jesus talking about? I’m no scholar, but I think He was talking about our FAITH.

So back to limping. Why do we limp? Paul admonishes us to run the race. How in the world can we run the race if we are limping? I personally believe one of the main reasons we limp is FEAR and guess what can’t exist simultaneously alongside of Fear. Yep, you guessed it: FAITH. If we are going to strengthen our faith, we must remember how HUGE and POWERFUL and SOVREIGN our God is! Have we forgotten that God did not give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7)? Take a moment today and read Psalm 23. You may need to be reminded that you need not fear even in the valley of the shadow of death! Why? Only one reason: God is WITH YOU. Remember who your God is! If He is for you, who can be against you??

Let’s step up our prayer life. Let’s pray like the believers in the first century that constantly faced persecution. They prayed for BOLDNESS. If we fix our eyes on God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, the One who gives us breath, our fear will melt away knowing He is in control and He is with us.

No more limping! Pray for boldness! Strengthen what remains of your faith!!We have a HUGE God!! We need not fear…..anything!

There’s your hug.
🙂