“Could You Please Simply Sit Still?”

Lead them in Peace,

Walk them in Light,

               Listen through Love,

                                          We'll find Him in our sights….

 

Could You Please Just Sit Still?

We are thinking honestly about how to be a person of integrity. In considering the book of Galatians we have found some guiding principles to keep us on the right path. We have discussed how we usually know the right thing to do and I will even venture to say desire, to some degree, to actually follow through. If I believe that I am squeezed between a rock and a hard place. (Rather like "the space between what is above and below" we have been using as an analogy, right?) So what happens in this point of pressure? If you are anything like me, you want to run out from between the pressure points!

God’s word tells us we are pressed on all sides but not crushed. That does not sound like someone running around flailing as if they are dodging bullets to me. It sounds as if the person is grounded in one place; enduring the constant pressure and discomfort from all sides even if the forces bring them to the point of pain. Hence the encouraging scripture written for our remembrance - when you have done all to stand, stand! Not Run.........Stand!

Take a moment to pause, reflect on this before we get back into our letter of encouraging wisdom from Galatians:

We don’t have to move to find God...... He is already here. Our emotions want us to feel as if we "have to" go to someone, some place or some thing; when all we have to do is acknowledge, “in the moment”, His presence. Where in the world are we going when we say we have to go “find” God? To who on earth can we flee to, who can save us? As Peter said when Christ asked “are you going to leave me too?”,  “Lord, to who else would we go; you have the words to eternal life?”

When the rubber of your tire hits the road, where do you choose to go – toward the land of life, or back onto the road leading you through the moments into death?

We are such emotionally driven beings. Remember back in the “Deeply” series when we talked about how our emotions are directional tool for navigation, not the gasoline that makes us go? Today we are going to look at “What your life will look like or feel like when you and the Holy Ghost are in the groove moving along the heavenly highway.

This we know, there will be times when:

We believe God’s blessings are on the way; they simply have not reached us yet.
We will feel the need to be rescued perhaps -even feel it is necessary to remind Him of His promises.
We will feel insecure when others insult us for what we believe. This discomfort will stimulate a desire to shut them up or force “proof” that our trust is not foolish, which in our impatience we exemplify the foolishness of what we profess.
We will know we cannot do this in our own power and be afraid that we might not be able to hold on; well we cannot in our own strength; which means we must remember all His truth, speak it with the same conviction even if we are being emotionally / sometime physically pummeled.
This is when God says – AH I am starting to see something brilliant, their sparkle is showing. Our hope is what He sees – it alone radiates as the true witness to others as we keep choosing the steps of His principles which are before us, guiding us.
We will choose to speak about His word no matter the presumed power of those we are facing.
We will lift our hands to unite in love - as we pray to God who delivers all by His hand, in love.
We will remember and believe that our hope will push us through; hoist us up to a higher vantage point which will comfort us when we are enduring miserable, sorry conditions.
We will see that this is the journey from plight to flight. We will acknowledge that He has been moving us away from crawling along inch by inch into the ability to cover miles by simply the flap of a wing.

So bring all this to remembrance when arrogant people mock you or foolish people are cruel. Be on alert that evil is crouching, desiring to have its way with you. Instead of swaying from Peters resolve take his same path; use the protectors which kept him going straight:

Look away from their face and look into the face of God.
Do not listen to their lies, remember His truth.
Quickly remember how difficult, frustrating it was for you as you grew to the point where you are.
Quickly reflect on the joy you felt when you passed beyond the pressure, confusion and into the clarity, peace and joy on the other side.
When your anger burns because of wicked people who abandon His principles of love, remember that because of His mercy and instruction you are now above reproach. Remember that this is no longer your home; it is their home.
Be quick to pray for them, for their soul is overwhelmed with an endless longing for His regulations and they do not even understand that.
Remember that now our inheritance has nothing to do with this world. Our inheritance is the Lord God Almighty Himself! So we have nothing to fight over with them – they can have it all!
Choose to fight the good fight, seek to win Gods favor – request the kindness He promises to ease your pain and suffering.
Thank God for His mercy and loving-kindness to direct your feet back to His perfect will when you desire to enter into this unjust battle field.
Reflect on your life and your ways unto Him
Without hesitation run back to His principles – do not forget that they have set a snare which ties quickly around you.

I can hear some of you ask, “What should I do if I was confused, did not run fast enough or was deceived and became ensnared?” Good question and God has the answer:

Don’t Panic! Be Still! Forget about the trap, focus on fully remembering what you have been taught – don’t fall for the second part of their trap: The fear of Him not rescuing you!
When your nights are sleepless, don’t waste the time “wake up Oh sleeper!" as God says and give thanks to Him for His righteous written word which regulates ALL things.
Remember that even where you are bound up there are others within ear reach or sight that fears the Lord; who follow His guiding principles. As you seek to remember, find them, be there for them and allow them to be there for you – His mercy fills the earth!
Lastly, ask God to teach you more as you are paused in your “moments in between” from where you came from to where you are going. Reflect on His grace, be grateful that He will never leave you nor forsake you – Know that All Things are ALL Right!

• Even in your misery you found a friend or comfort – praise God that He heard your request for kindness and showed up with His faithful promise in your time of need.
• Request that He teach you to use Good Judgment and knowledge because you believe in His principles and guidance.
• Talk to Him about how you used to wander off before He allowed you to suffer.
• Bring to His remembrance and yours how you have grown beyond that – now you cling to His word, you keep it set before you desiring to not turn away from it.
• Speak of His goodness and how He does good things as you request to be taught His governing laws of life.
• Speak to Him about what you’ve seen and the value of His authority over all things
  1. Arrogant people smear me with lies
  2. Their hearts are cold and insensitive
  3. It is Good to suffer for awhile in order to learn the truth
  4. His ways are higher than our vanity and our riches are worthless in comparison to His wisdom
  5. Give praise to Him in honor and glory for creating you as you are – what you are and ask that He help you understand so that you may learn His commandment of loving-kindness
  6. Tell Him you desire all this, so that those who fear Him will see you and rejoice because your hope is grounded in the base of His truth, His word, His promise and His faithfulness
  7. Speak of how fair, righteous and just He is to allow you to learn in through protected experiences
  8. Ask for His mercy to comfort you as He promised
  9. Request His compassion to reach you right in these moments so that you may live and thrive by His instruction, energy and successful break through
  10. Ask that He show up as your mighty deliverance even as you reflect His image in all ways to: humble their arrogance,  speak truth covering their lies, change their vision, soften their heart so that they may fear the Lord and turn back toward you in hopes of seeing the way to Him
  11. Ask that your heart be filled with integrity in regard to His guiding principles so that you are above reproach

Do not turn away from God to face them; remember you must be heading them away from where they are! Show them the way, as YOU were shown, right from the beginning.

My Aunt Bonnie took the time to write down these quotes for me to share with you all, she thought they might bring you encouragement at some point (thank God for inherited family =D):

If you are going through Hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill

Do one thing every day that scares you. – Eleanor Roosevelt

I know this was a lot of information, but it is not a onetime read. Neither is the bible, by the way (wow that was a bit snarky – anyone have a spare “snark princess” tiara? I pray you forgive me….) Honestly, that was as much a reminder to myself as anyone else; but you already knew that, right =D)

Today I pray that your faith not fail. I ask you to pray fervently; Satan at times demands to sift us like wheat. I ask you to not fall asleep in your sorrow, but to be alert – aware that evil is crouching at your door waiting for that moment!

Tomorrow we will look at the bumpers which keep us on His lane when our faith happens to flail. Till then “Keep the peace!” No one will be lost on Christ’ watch, we know that in advance.

I pray that we Lead them in Peace, Walk them in Light, Listen through Love – because this is Good in His sight….

With Love, desiring to stimulate you toward Goodness….for Goodness Sake =D
Kisses,
Candace

©2011Candace Huffmaster, All Rights Reserved

The True Grit is InteGRITy

Integrity

Who of you thought I was simply going to ask the question:  Why is integrity important? Then follow up with:  Because we are blessed by a life lived with integrity. ??

I would feel as if I left you stranded on the side of the road if that was all the fuel I gave you.  (If you did not know my favorite reads are things like the exhaustive concordance of the bible, dictionary of etymology and when I have some down time Wikipedia, which I use like a game show challenge.  These always are second to whatever translation of the bible I am currently studying – comparing)

Let’s start with Encarta Dictionary’s definition of integrity:

1.       Possession of firm principles

a.       The quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards

2.       Completeness

a.       The state of being complete or undivided

                                                               i.      The territorial integrity of the nation

3.       Wholeness

a.       The state of being sound or undamaged

                                                               i.      Public confidence in the integrity of the voting process

Knowing that everything is governed by leadership from top to bottom life, we must think about Kingdoms, governing rules, regulations.  The constitution or integrity of something is what holds it up, brings it together or breaks it apart.  It is where we get the saying “fabric of society”.  

Integrity itself is used in science for comparison, observation, expansion of thoughts.  You must have a highest possible integer to align your thoughts with.  (We are simply talking apples and oranges here).

Let’s say you have a basket of apples and you think your apples are pretty amazing, but something starts to bother you about your apples and you don’t have any other knowledge than what you already know, all you are left with is an uneasy, unexplainable, make you squirm when you should have peace feeling messing up your road trip.  Meaning: your steadfast, high moral principle or best professional opinion isn’t steadfast any longer.  You are divided from that complete love of your apples so that sound peace is damaged.  But then you see an orange on a road sign and you wonder……..so you take a turn, stop at a stand, open the door, walk over to the orange stand, view their bright orange color, feel that they are a bit softer than your shiny red apples, lift it to your nose as you press it and smell the difference.  So you decide to take it with you and see how it relates to your apples.

Let’s tie a pretty bow around our fruit basket now:

Integrity is important because it is the core, the plumb line, the undergirding upholding all else.  Like a constitution it is the core or “what shall stand or die trying”.  This is why God had to have the commandments – His law, His integrity….His constitution written.  Without it we would have no roadway set in stone.  Everyone else’s self made road of integrity would run smack into our roadways.  We would be fighting about who had the right-of-way with no way to come to an amicable resolve.

Remember our topics on how He gave us emotions as road signs to tell us when to stop, turn etc. Our feelings are to feed us information which will keep us safe AND to bring us to an ability to empathize, celebrate, worship, thing and create. 

But mostly in order (His Kingdom is one of order) to LOVE.  God first loved us, He met all our needs.  He planned for our future and He got excited about it.  He also God was angered by deception.  He grieved when His son suffered for our sake but don’t turn before you see the joy He experienced when His son claimed the final victory due to integrity to His constitution.

Hebrews 13:8 states: Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Matthew 5:17 states: Do not think that I came to abolish “the law” or “the prophets” I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

Hebrews 1:3 states: And He IS the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds ALL things by the word of His power.

And the final fluff of our pretty purple bow is this:

God always tells us things then confirms His truth.  He does things in  pairs:  Adam ALONG WITH Eve,   sending us out two by two,  a stand of two is not easily broke and (drum roll please for today’s big finish) All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments

If your integrity, your constitution, what holds you up is your love for the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.  Then your character, your image, your actions will be His love through you upon all other people. 

Abraham started this journey and knew when God said the integrity of the land was compromised – therefore it could no longer undergird the weight upon it and God directed Him to put it in drive, He did not hesitate; because of his personal constitution (faith, belief). 

God said allow Lot to choose first.  A worldly person would think, “What?? You are not even going to fight me for it – Sucker”  Not that they would dare speak it for fear you might catch on.  But God and those of us in His mindset understand that whatever they leave with or drive to is the end of their best.  As for you, it is the lowest of what God is pouring into and onto you.

So….Don’t worry; Be Happy! Woo...oo...oo...o.o.o.o.o.o.o.  Get in your car, strap yourself safely in, put the pedal to the metal and DRIVE BABY!

With Love and Kisses Candace

© 2011, Candace Huffmaster, All Rights Reserved