Faith. Archives - Page 6 of 13

The Lion’s Den.

January 30, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hi all! How’s your Wednesday going so far? So far so good over here. Last night James and I were able to check out a young adult group at a church called Convergence in Fort Worth. It’s a bit of a drive out there, but was definitely worth it! Then, we decided to work on my blog [get excited for the changes!] when we got home, so, needless to say, it was a late night. So I’m a little sleepy today, but nothing a few cups of coffee can’t cure:)

Anyways, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been reading and sharing a lot from the book of Daniel lately. For some reason the Lord led me to Daniel, and I have really been gaining a lot of insight from reading through it at a slower pace. This morning I was reading the section where Daniel was thrown in to the lion’s den because he was caught praying to God. The king who’s decree caused this event was distressed because he actually really liked Daniel, but there was nothing he could do about the consequences—Daniel had to be thrown into the lion’s den as punishment.

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Faith in God’s Abilities.

January 29, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! Hope you all are having a great day so far. It’s supposed to be a stormy day here in Texas—I’m just a little excited about that. I may or may not like storms a little too much:) Anyways. I was reading in Daniel again this morning, particularly the chapter where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace for not worshiping the king’s golden idol. When the king told them what was about to happen to them [aka being roasted to death in the fiery furnace] this was their reply…

“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 3:16-18

When pressured to deny God, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego chose faithfulness—regardless of the outcome. Notice how the said God was able to save not that he definitely would save them from death by blazing furnace. They knew God was able to save them, yet they didn’t base their faithfulness on whether or not he would in fact save them. They trusted him to rescue them, but were determined to remain faithful even if he didn’t.

God doesn’t have to prove himself by rescuing us from our circumstance in order to merit our faithfulness. If this were the case, why would we need faith? Instead, we need to be faithful regardless of the outcome of our circumstances. After all, our eternal reward in Heaven is much greater than anything we could receive on Earth.

What about you? Are you going through a difficult situation in life? Remember, have faith regardless of what the outcome may be. God has a perfect plan for your life—even if you are having trouble seeing it clearly right now. Just have faith.

Well, I’m off to run some errands, etc. Hope you all have a great day! God Bless:)

Prayer over Panic.

January 27, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello! Hope you all have had a great week, and are having a wonderful Sunday so far. I apologize for my lack of posting over the past week. Needless to say, it was a crazy one. James and I went to a conference Thursday and Friday last week at our church, which was nothing short of amazing. I figured it would be, but was still surprised by how much I learned and took away from the experience. I won’t get into it all right now, but I’ll definitely be sharing some insights over the next couple of weeks here.

I am also in the process of making some changes to the blog, so bear with me over the next couple of weeks. I will try and make the transition as smooth as possible, but seeing as I am not the most technically inclined person, we will just have to see how it goes!

In other news, it was my 24^th birthday yesterday! It’s crazy…I still feel like I should be turning 20 or something. Time sure does fly by. We were pretty tired after the two-day conference, so we mainly just relaxed which was really nice. But we did manage to go out for breakfast and do a little birthday shopping:)

Anyways, I haven’t shared a devotional in quite awhile, so I thought I would share a bit of what I read this morning from the book of Daniel. To give you a little context, Daniel has just been asked to interpret the kings dream to him—something that none of his other counselors were able to do. In fact, the king had just decided to kill all of the wise men in the kingdom because they were not able to interpret said dream. Talk about pressure. But, while Daniel had every right to be afraid of what the king might do to him if he failed, he chose to take a different approach—prayer.

“Then Daniel returned to his house an explained the matter to his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.”

Daniel 2:17-18

When Daniel learned of their predicament his first reaction was not panic, but instead to gather his friends together and seek the Lord in prayer. How often do we face difficult situations and our first reactions are panic and fear? Our natural instincts tell us to be afraid, when really fear does nothing to help us in overcoming the situation. Can we conquer anything through panic? The answer, of course, is NO.

Instead, we need to focus on prayerfully seeking God’s face in the midst of any and every challenging circumstance or situation. Ultimately, he is the only one who can help us overcome the fear we face.

So, next time you feel afraid, remember to choose prayer over panic. Choose to seek God before any other natural response takes over. I promise things will turn out much better in the end.

Well, that’s all for today. Like I said, look for some new and exciting changes to come over the next couple of weeks! Have a great day and God Bless:)

Slavery vs. Sonship.

January 16, 2013 By: Sarah Leff2 Comments

Good Morning! Hope you all are having a great start to your Wednesday so far. James and I were up late last night watching Indiana play Wisconsin in college basketball—unfortunately Indiana lost—better luck next time! Needless to say, I’m a little sleepy this morning, but after this cup of coffee I’m sure I’ll be ready to go. Anyways, I was reading in Romans this morning [which I love] and came across one of my favorite verses…

“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.”

Romans 8:15a

Before we are born again in Christ, we are slaves to sin. Sounds harsh—maybe a little overdramatic—but it’s true. Before we come to Christ, we are in bondage to our sins. Sin controls our lives, dictating our choices and determining our future. And the ironic part is that often we have no idea it’s happening. Sin may be controlling our lives, yet we can’t perceive that anything is wrong. In fact, we may even feel that we are the ones in control of our lives—not sin, not God. But, I can assure you, that feeling is just what it says—a feeling—not truth, not fact.

But, once we come to Christ, a shift happens within us—like a heavy weight being lifted from our shoulders. Instead of being trapped in bondage to our sins, we receive a new Spirit—the Holy Spirit, and he is anything but a slave-master. When we are living in the Holy Spirit, we don’t have to be afraid of anything. Nothing can keep us in the bondage of our sin once we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. And nothing can keep us from receiving ‘sonship’ and becoming children of God.

Now doesn’t being a child of God sound infinitely better than being a slave to sin? I think the answer is quite obvious. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by life, stuck in the bondage of sin, it’s time to accept the gift of sonship God gave you when he sent Jesus, his actual son, to die on the cross for our sins. You don’t have to live in bondage or fear any longer!

Well, I’m off to get a few things done before work tonight. Hope you all have a great day, and stay tuned for some new changes coming to the blog soon! God Bless:)

Encouraging Others.

January 15, 2013 By: Sarah Leff1 Comment

Hello and Happy Tuesday! Guess what? It snowed last night! Needless to say, I was a happy camper when I woke up this morning. Not that it snowed much, only maybe an inch, but still…I can’t help myself. I just love snow that much:) I was a little afraid of how the roads might be [mainly because of other drivers…I’m quite used to snow driving] but they weren’t really bad at all. Thank goodness.

I wanted to share something I read from Titus this morning that I found insightful and interesting…

“Likewise teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Titus 2:3-5

When Titus says ‘older women’, that doesn’t necessarily mean just those older in age. It can also refer to women who are more mature in their faith than others. What would our lives be like it we all had an older, mature Christian women guiding us, loving us, and living life along side us? Some of you may have had this sort of leadership in a mother or Christian mentor, but there are many women out there who have never had a positive role model in their lives.

If every older [mature] woman took this scripture seriously, and made a point of guiding the younger women in their lives, I’m convinced our society as a whole would be a better place. I think we would see fewer broken homes and more solid marriages than we do today. I think it would be easier to stay on the track God has called us to if we all received the proper encouragement and support along the way. The concept of older women mentoring younger women was important enough to be included in the New Testament, so it must be worthwhile for us today as well.

Is there someone in your life who has been a mentor or positive role model to you? Or maybe there is someone you have mentored in the past? What did you gain from that relationship? Ask the Lord to highlight those around you who may need some encouragement and guidance—young or old, we can all use a little support now and then. Just something to think about.

Well, I hope you all have a great rest of your day! God Bless:)

Being Courageous.

January 14, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello and Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was pretty low key…actually really low key. We did take an evening excursion to Trader Joes though on Saturday, which was excellent, and made a quick stop at our favorite bubble tea shop which was right down the road [so convenient]. But, other than that, nothing new to report.

In other news, I’ve been reading the book of Esther over the weekend. If you haven’t actually read the whole book, I would encourage you to do so—it’s very good! If you’re not familiar with Esther’s story, let me give you a brief background. Esther was a Jew, who was chosen amongst many other beautiful women to be the new queen in Persia. During her time as queen, an evil advisor convinced the king to issue a decree stating that anyone could kill any Jew at any time beginning on a certain set date in the near future. The king wasn’t fully aware of what this decree entailed, and definitely did not know that his own queen was, in fact, a Jew. When Esther learned about the decree from her cousin Mordecai, she was devastated. Devastated and afraid. But, under her cousins’ instruction, she decided to approach the king [which was illegal and punishable by death] and plead with him for the lives of her people. In the end, the king accepts her, listens to her, and eventually executes the evil advisor who instigated the imminent slaughter in the first place. He then gave the Jews the right to fight back and defend themselves against anyone who would attempt to harm them. In the end the Jews were saved—all because of Esther’s bravery. But just because she was brave, doesn’t mean she wasn’t afraid.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this.”

Esther 4:14

Esther didn’t have any of the usual qualification for becoming a queen in Persia, and the circumstances that brought about her queen-ship were far from ordinary. But, God knew what he was doing. He knew about Haman’s [the evil advisor] plot to kill the Jews before he even spoke of it. He knew that someone who supported the Jews needed to be in authority to save them at that specific time. So, what did he do? He placed Esther in a position of authority, granted her favor with the king, and through her courage saved the Jews from imminent destruction.

She was right where God wanted her to be, exactly when he wanted her to be there. She was faithful to God’s promptings in her life, and her people reaped the benefits of her obedience.

We can learn a valuable lesson from Esther’s life. While we may not be destined to become royalty, or to save an entire nation from destruction, God has a specific plan and purpose for each of our lives. He has things for us to do, and a timeline for us to follow. It’s so important to be doing what he wants us to do when he wants us to do it. And the plans he has for us may require us to be courageous. They may not always be the most comfortable or easy actions for us to take—Esther definitely didn’t have an easy task. But, the end results will always be worth any discomfort we may initially experience.

Well, on that note, I’m off. Enjoy the rest of your day, and God Bless:)

Be a Witness…Not a Conformer.

January 10, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Hello, and Happy Thursday! Again, this week has truly flown by. Fortunately, the rain stopped sometime last night…not that I don’t like rain, it’s just that two straight days of it starts to get a little old. But, I know we needed it, and after the drought we went through last summer I vowed to never complain about rain again! Anyways, enough about the weather and the ever increasing speed of time. I read the book of Jude this morning. This sounds impressive until you realize Jude doesn’t even have chapters—just 25 verses. But, just because it’s short in length doesn’t mean its lacking in importance. It is actually a very relevant 25 verses.

“Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

Jude 22-23

While this may sound a bit graphic, it demonstrates one of the most important aspects of the Christian faith—witnessing. Whether it be through our words, actions or deeds, we should always be reflecting Christ’s love to others—sharing the good news with them in any way we can. But, just because we are called to be loving and merciful, doesn’t mean we should be tolerant or condoning of the sin we see around us. While we love the sinner, we need to hate the sin.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when believers say something along the lines of, “Well, Jesus hung out with sinners, so therefore it must be okay for me to behave like them, tolerating the things that they are doing.” I’m sorry, but that is just not how it went down. Jesus spent time with sinners yes, but he did so for ministry purposes. He didn’t condone what they were doing, encourage them to continue sinning, or even look the other way. He went into the darkness with the intention of bringing them out into the light. He loved, and still loves, sinners, but that doesn’t mean he approves of the actual sin. In the same way, we need to love those who are living in sin, or unbelievers, but what we don’t need to do is become tolerant of the sin. We need to lovingly minister to them, just as Jesus did, with the intention of bringing them out of the darkness and into the light.

The bottom line is that we live in a sinful, fallen world. As believers, it should be our goal to witness to those around us in whatever way possible—whether it be through our words or actions. But, remember to ‘show mercy mixed with fear’, using discernment as we witness in our sin-stricken world.

On that note, I’m off to go tackle my to do list for the day. Hope you all have a great Thursday! God Bless:)

Pray with Confidence.

January 9, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday! I don’t know about you, but here is Dallas it has been raining [pouring] since yesterday afternoon. And it’s still raining. And it is supposed to keep raining ALL day. In a weird way I kind of like the rain, even though I would much prefer snow at this time of year. It’s relaxing to snuggle up inside while listening to it come down. Going outside is a slightly different story, seeing as I am immediately soaked while walking from my front door to my car, but for nom I’m inside cuddling with Samson. Great way to start off my Wednesday. Anyways, I was reading in 1 John again this morning [which is an awesome book by the way] and came across this passage…

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

1 John 5:14-15

When we pray, we can’t just ask God for any and every thing we want, expecting him to give it to us—just because we asked for it. Instead, the emphasis here is on God’s will being done above and before our own. The first thing we need to do is align our will with God’s will for our lives. It can’t just be about what we want. It has to be about what God wants for us. Once our will is aligned with God’s, and we pray for those things within his will to happen, we can expect God to follow through with an answer. We can expect him to hear us, and be certain that he will answer. We can be confident in our prayers.

This is something I struggle with. I feel like when I ask God for something in prayer, I’m not always confident that he will follow through with an answer. I hope that he will, but not truly confident. This passage was encouraging to me because it reminded me that I can go boldly before the throne of God in prayer, and if my will is aligned with his, I can be certain of an answer.

Pray with confidence. Expect God to follow through on his promises in your life.

Hope you all have a great rest of your day! God Bless:)

Preparing for Rejection.

January 8, 2013 By: Sarah Leffcomment

Good Morning! For some reason, it just doesn’t feel like a Tuesday today, but apparently it is. Ah, well. I guess I am pretty excited that it’s Tuesday, because that means we get to go see Max Lucado speak at our church tonight! He is such a great author, and I’m really excited to hear what he has to say. I’ll let you all know how it was in tomorrow’s post. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. So I know I said I was going to start reading the Bible straight through again like I did last year, but I kind of changed my mind. By all means, if you’ve started reading straight through, keep going! It’s just that for me, I’ve been feeling led to pray, letting the Holy Spirit lead me to the passage of scripture I’m supposed to read for the day. Lately, it’s been 1 John. And there is a LOT to be learned from 1 John. So, here is something I felt led to read and share with you this morning…

“Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.”

1 John 3:13

Well that was simple and to the point. Don’t be surprised if the world hates us. Hmm. As Christians, we were never meant to blend in to the background. We were never meant to conform to the patterns of this world. Quite the opposite actually. Instead of conforming, we have always been called to stand out. To live differently—separate from the patterns from the world. The problem? Living differently isn’t always the most popular choice amongst our peers. They may not understand why we act differently, and this lack of understanding often leads to hatred, or rejection, on their part. Don’t be surprised. They only feel this way because our lifestyle pushes them to conviction in regards to their own lives. As Christians, we can’t let persecution, rejection or even hatred cause us to live within the patterns of the world. We can’t let them affect us, but rather, we must have an effect on them.

If ever you are feeling rejected, persecuted or hated because of your faith, take comfort in the fact that Jesus knows exactly what you are going through. In fact, he’s been there himself. Rely on him, and he will bring you through any trial or circumstance you may find yourself in.

Well, I hope you all are having a great Tuesday so far. I’m off to get a few things done before work. Have a great day, and God Bless:)

Lukewarm?

January 4, 2013 By: Sarah Leff2 Comments

Hello and Happy Friday! Hope you all are having a great day so far. As usual, this week has again flown by—seriously how is it already January? At least it’s been reasonably cold lately. Not quite like being in Michigan, but it’s better than nothing!

Anyways, I thought I would share with you something I read in Revelations last week that really stuck out to me. It’s regarding the different churches depicted towards the beginning of the book, and Jesus is the one who is speaking…

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Revelation 3:15-16

The church Jesus was talking about here was neither hot nor cold. They weren’t on fire for him, but were stuck somewhere in the commitment stage of their relationship with him. Not fully committed to him, yet not completely unbelieving either. So many Christians today are like this. Tossed back and forth between the rocky waves of culture and the solid truths of Christianity. They can’t quite decide if they’d rather follow Christ or live their lives by the world’s standards. They are lukewarm.

We can’t be lukewarm Christians. We can’t go to church and be committed to Christ one day, only to turn around and live a double-standard life the next. We need to be 100% committed to him. On fire for him. Passionate for him. Always. All the time. No matter where we are or who we are with. Don’t settle on following God with half of your heart—commit to giving him the whole thing.

This is something I have struggled with in the past—giving everything in my life completely to Christ. This year I’m really going to focus on being totally committed to Christ 100% of the time. No matter where he leads me, or what he is calling me to do. I’ve tried figuring out how to do life on my own, and it just never seems to work out the way I planned. This year I’m going to focus on giving everything to him, and being on fire for him always—not just when it is convenient.

We have to change lukewarm into hot within the church. But we can’t do that if we aren’t completely hot ourselves. Commit to being hot—not lukewarm in your walk with Christ. I have a feeling you won’t be disappointed with the outcome.

Well, I hope you all have a great rest of your day, and an excellent weekend to boot! I’m off to work on some editing this afternoon. Wish me luck! God Bless:)

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