Wind,Rain,Winding Roads & Sunshine, The By-Ways of Life: July 2011

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July 2011

07/29/2011

Patience

Patience is a virtue that can only be learned when going through trials. When the battles of life are raging and you are seeking answers or solutions to difficult situations taking place, at that particular moment in your life, don’t get panicky, keep looking upward and hold still. If it seems like God has forgotten you and like King Saul, you want to offer the sacrifice out of fear of people^[1] as he had done before Samuel arrived; if you feel the need to do something, or if it seems like you can't hold on and everything within you says, it is over, go ahead live out what you are feeling; don't do it, hang in there. God has not forgotten you. His love and mercy are still reigning in your life because you are still living, still breathing His breaths of life. When you can grasp the principle that God’s love is all encompassing and omnipotent; that He really is an on- time God who never forsakes His children or leave one in a hopeless mess; you become restful; you will be able to WAIT. The reality of what you are going through may not change quickly, the emotions battling within you may not calm down immediately, the negative voices that you hear degrading your decision to hold on may not stop completely, but based on your faith in a Covenant keeping God that loves his own and cannot lie, you know he has not forgotten you. Psalm 27: 14 says it, “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”^[2]

Habakkuk preached it when He said, [“I will go out and see how the LORD will handle my complaint.”^][3] Joseph lived it while waiting on God to move on his behalf after being sold in captivity out of demonic interference fulfilled through his brothers by the spirit of jealousy; after the attack by the spirit of lust through Potiphar's wife; after the attack on his integrity by the spirit of deprivation of his freedom through Potiphar himself, when he was thrown into prison unjustly by a seemly intelligent man who was insanely jealous. Yes, Joseph held on to the dream that he was given, even though, I am sure that he went through some deep valleys while holding on. He continued to hold on and received the promise.

How do I know it? It stands in the Bible. After 13 tears, he was called to appear before Pharaoh. And the same God who had taken care of him by giving him favor at Potiphar's house; by giving him favor before the head jailer; this same God brought him before Pharaoh and fulfilled the dream that he had given him at 17 years of age. The dream became reality!

Wait I say, wait on the LORD! He has not forgotten you. Wait on the LORD!

May the LORD who is near to all who call on Him keep you in His everlasting arms.

Schalom,

Pat Garcia

1 See THE HOLY BIBLE, New International Version, 1984, 1 Samuel15:24. 
2 See The HOLY BIBLE, New International Version, 1984, Psalm 24:14. 
3 See THE HOLY BIBLE; New International Version, 1984, Habakkuk 2:1, Paraphrased.

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07/15/2011

Does Jesus Really Know What We Are Going Through?

We often talk about the cross and what Jesus did for us. We look at the benefits that we have received because of his death and resurrection. At Christmas, we honor his birth and at Easter, we celebrate his resurrection and the freedom that we enjoy being reunited with God as one of his children. Often I have imprinted in my mind that:

Jesus was punished that I might be forgiven.

Jesus was wounded that I might be healed.

Jesus was made sin with my sinfulness that I might be made righteous with His righteousness.

Jesus died my death that I might share His life.

Jesus was made a curse that I might receive the blessing.

Jesus endured my poverty that I might share his abundance.

Jesus bore my shame that I might share his glory.

Jesus endured my rejection that I might enjoy His acceptance.

My old man died in Jesus that the new man might live in me.^⁠¹

These proclamations taken from Derek Prince's book The Divine Exchange have helped me over many critical points in my life when I thought at the beginning, there was no end. I was totally sunken into the struggles that my own choices, whether good or bad, had brought me up against, and could only ask myself at some point in the struggle "Does Jesus really understand what I am going through?"

One hears it from the pulpit as it is being proclaimed through a sermon from the Preacher, "Jesus knows what you're going through” and people looking for something to say to comfort you, used this as a fossil to quickly get away because they are afraid it might affect them. Most of us have read amazing autobiographies or biographies in which people have come through amazing feats after asking themselves the same question and having received an answer they move on to accomplish amazing things, but the question for you still remains unanswered and you continue to ask yourself, "how do I know that Jesus really knows what I'm going through?” I can honestly say that if you are in the pits of life right now and you are asking yourself that particular question, then I can understand what you're going through. Those pits are designed to provoke us to asking two questions, “LORD, where are you? Do you know what I am going through?” and to receiving the answer which comes from entering in to that experience. It happens to all people who want to fulfill their destiny. But getting back to my subject how do you know that Jesus really knows what you are going through?”, I have discovered it is through the Holy Spirit. He is the one who opens our eyes to the fact that Jesus really know what you're experiencing.

For example, I had read Luke 4:1-13 thousands of times. I can even quote you some of the verses by memory and yet all of these years, I never saw the temptation of Jesus in the way that the Holy Spirit has revealed it to me recently. Amazingly, I finally saw that it wasn't candies and cherries after 40 days of not eating. Jesus was hungry! In other words, he was not ready to jump up and plant new trees or conquer the world. He was tired, full of despair, weakened, depressed and hungry. You don't believe me? Then look in 1Kings 19 verse 8, twice the Angel of the LORD told Elijah to get up and eat because the journey was too great for him; or look at Daniel. He was fasting 21 days for clarity of a message given to him by God and he ate no choice food, left off the meats and alcohol and didn't even use any lotions or oil to cream his body and he was weak.^⁠² However, on the twenty-fourth day of that month he received clarity of the message from God in a vision. Wow! Wow! and again Wow!

So, what am I trying to say? Jesus was anything but a conqueror at the time of his wilderness experience. In his manhood, he probably asked, “Where are you, Father?” He was very man and had to make some real decisions. Our redemption depended upon his decisions, his choices and those were to resist the devil or succumb to him I am so glad that he didn't succumb because if he had, all of mankind would have been lost forever.

You may say to me "Oh Patricia, he was the Son of God and he couldn't fail." That's not true! Sure he was the Son of God but when he was in the wilderness, he was the Son of man, living in a world that was under the rule of Satan. God couldn't interfere because he would have taken away Jesus' free will to decide, to choose. Aren't you glad Jesus' chose to save mankind instead of eating when the devil offered him something to eat because he was hungry; or that he didn’t choose to rule as the devil offered him the kingdoms of this world just to be king for an hour or a day; and that Jesus refused to doom mankind to the pits of hell as the devil tempted him to jump off the highest building in the world at that time and test God?" I know I am.

So, whatever you are going through today, think about the struggles of Jesus as he was in the wilderness. We tend to overlook that. Thinking that the wilderness experience is a drive to our favorite fast food restaurant, where we enter in and within three minutes we leave with hamburger and french fries in a bag, we lose sight of the author and finisher of our faith and the length of time that he went through the wilderness and what happened to him afterwards. It could be that your wilderness is like ordering a hamburger from a fast food restaurant, but my experience has shown me that it usually doesn't happen that way.

It would not be proper to close this column this week without passing on two or three life learned tips for those of you in the wilderness. I say life learned because I practice them. They have become a routine in my life and accompany me on my journey.

1. Remember, there is an end to what you're going through and light at the end of the tunnel, so even though you are rambling around in darkness, get up every morning and read the Word of God. Find one of your favorite verses and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you in a fresh way.

2.Find an author who believes in the Trinity and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. One who has completed his or her journey or one, who is still living, and read one of their books. Sure, you don't feel like reading in the wilderness and maybe you even hate reading but bring your feelings under your control and make yourself do it. It is in those time of quietness that we are renewed by the presence of God. Don't believe me? Again look at Elijah, he was in that mountain, hiding in a cave and the LORD God asked him in the stillness, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" Elijah gave him an answer and waited until the LORD got ready to pass by. Then there was a mighty storm, but Elijah didn't budge. An earthquake came but Elijah still stayed in the cave. It was the silence, the total silence that made him arise and go out and look and the LORD was there, ready to speak to him.

3. Find two people whom you can trust, who can keep you in prayer. People of integrity and filled with the Holy Spirit, whom you can bear your heart out to and know that they will be faithful to pray for you and with you.

4. Finally, Fast. Yes, I mean fast. There are some things that come into being or happen only through prayer and fasting. Jesus told the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they asked why his disciples were not fasting, "that the bridegroom was still on the earth but when the bride groom leaves then they will fast.^⁠³" The bridegroom is now sitting at the Father's right hand, so people, fasting is appropriate. You don't have to fast 40 days, but pick aside a day if you can, where you can fast once a week, or a meal or two which you leave out of your nutritional diet and start developing this as a regular weekly routine.

The wilderness is not a fun thing. You don't wake up feeling great every morning. Your world has been covered by dark clouds and these clouds around you are real but as a child of God, you have been given the victory, if you hold firm.

Paul^⁠⁴ said it and I wrote a song about it, "If you don't stand firm in your faith you will not stand at all". So hold on a little while longer. Jesus left his wilderness ordeal in victory. The Bible says that after three temptations, the devil departed from him.

The Father did not leave him there in the wilderness. If you read farther, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit and news about him spread through the whole countryside.” His Father had given him the power to do the impossible. Don’t believe me, then look at the Word of God. There it says, “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”^⁠⁵ Again, I can only say “Wow!”

Does Jesus really know what you are going through? Yes, he does. He went through it also and because of that we are not only redeemed but can live a life in victory. Victory will come to you and that is a promise from God. Stand Firm and Hold On!

May the LORD who is near to all who call on Him protect and keep you in His everlasting arms.

Schalom,

Pat Garcia Schaack^⁠⁶

⁴1 Corinthians 16:13

1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society.

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07/08/2011

Moving Along On The Journey In Spite Of.................

It is a fact of life that the journey can sometimes be tiring. Waking up, dragging our feet, we fight the inevitable that is about to happen or will happen. We try to prolong the last few drops of where we are instead of getting up and moving along to where we should go. Beginning to tire, we finally accept whatever it is and lift up one foot after the other moving in the direction call forwardness. Having forgotten that great things, great accomplishments and even deliverance from some things come not from standing still but from moving forward, we hesitate to leave the valley to overcome whatever it is that is holding us back from receiving the victory we so desire and will keep us moving towards that eternal light.

When I look at the Bible, I find many people who left some of the same valleys that I have to leave and it is good to know that I am not the first one nor the last one who will experience such lostness, confusion or fearfulness. Moses, for example, was in the valley for 40 years. You may say that he wasn't, but according to Bible, God told Aaron "Go and meet Moses in the wilderness"* and when you're in a valley you are in the wilderness. In the valley, he married Zipporah, had two sons, one of them he named Gershom which means "I am a sojourner in a foreign country".** Again, evidence that Moses was in a valley and his God-intended purpose had not been fulfilled. It is interesting, this story of Moses, because when it was time for him to leave, he did what so many of us do, find excuses to stay where we are. We adjust and become so comfortable with where we are and what we are doing, and becoming satisfied, we ignore that still small voice that is calling us higher.

Looking at others who are laughing and enjoying life, we fear entering into something unknown without knowing the outcome and we forget that to stay on our journey we have to keep moving forward. Moses finally realized that and went to his father in law Jethro and said, ""Let me go back to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive."*** Moses had heard the Call and his happiness was dependent upon his obedience to that voice that he had heard.

Take notice however, that Moses did not leave the valley alone. He took his wife and his sons with him. So many of us think leaving the valley means forsaking all and starting all over again with something new. I am so sorry to disappoint you but that is very seldom the case. Leaving the valley means learning to live with your decisions and choices until God has changed it. That is so important to know. Uprooting yourself to fulfill your God given purpose is not God uprooting you; that you taking things in your own hands. You have to wait until God changes things, allowing him to develop a willingness in you to accept His decisions and His directions, or the fulfillment of your goal will leave a saltless, bitter taste in your mouth that smacks of unfulfillment because it was accomplished the wrong way. Look at Solomon, he is a good example of that. At the end of his life, with 300 wives and 1000 concubines, he wrote, "What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment--wickedness was there, in the place of justice -- wickedness was there. I thought in my heart, "God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed." I also thought, "As for men, God test them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?" So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?". ****

In other words, we have to develop an ear to hear and patience to wait, until we hear the still small voice saying "it is time to move". Believe me, an ear to hear, and patience to wait on him, until I hear that still small peaceful voice are virtues and traits that I am still learning to master and will continue to learn the rest of my life on this earthly journey.

I am always reminded of a word that one of my grandmothers said to me many years ago. God knows the desires of your heart, child and if you trust Him, He will lead you to them.

So whatever you are going through, whatever you have to face, get up and start moving, and leave that valley. If you are afraid, start by putting a toe in the water. I used to do that when I first learned how to swim. Before jumping in, I would test the temperature of the water by putting in first my big toe and then the rest of my toes. Often, the water was much colder than I thought, nevertheless I closed my eyes and jumped in. Within seconds, my body began to adjust and I would start swimming to the other side of the pool.

Again I revert back to Solomon as he said, "Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless."*****

It is time to get going! Keep moving forward! You can do it!

May the LORD who is near to all who call on Him, guide you in all that you undertake to do the next week. So, be a blessing and blessings will come back to you.

Schalom,

Pat Garcia Schaack

All Scriptures are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version,
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible society
NIV/The Message Parallel Bible
Copyright 2004, 2006 by ZONDERVAN

*Exodus 5:27
**Exodus 2:22
***Exodus 4:18
****Ecclesiates 3:9-22
*****Ecclesiates 11:9-10

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