Category Archives: Answer God’s Call

March 22, 2016

Strong Like a Rock-Day 6

By marilynnchadwick

God loves us when we are weak, but He wants to make us strong. It’s true. The Bible is filled with stories of how God empowers broken men and women to conquer enemies, pull down strongholds, move mountains, and accomplish His work on earth.

Gideon sure felt weak.  He referred to himself as the “least” in a family whose clan was the “weakest” in his tribe.  But God sent an angel who greeted the tired and broken man with these encouraging words:  “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”   It took a little persuading, but God gave amazing strength to this unlikely hero who defeated enemy armies and returned Israel to her glory.

God wants to make us strong–especially in our marriages.  When we’re strong in the Lord, we don’t drain our spouse through our neediness. My husband David and I deal with this subject in more detail in our recently released companion books: Eight Great Ways to Honor Your Husband/Wife.

God’s original purpose for marriage was to provide companionship. He looked at Adam and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” There was no “suitable helper” for Adam, so God makes a “helper.”  (Genesis 2:18-24).  Sadly, our English word, helper, has evolved to a very watered-down version and can mean anything from a distress call, to roadside assistance, to domestic servants.

The word translated as “helper”, or ezer, means “to support.”  Actually, as one scholar points out, ezer is actually a combination of two roots meaning: “to rescue, to save,” and “to be strong.” Ezer is used over twenty times in the Old Testament–just twice for the woman.  The other times,  ezer refers to God Himself as the helper, especially during battles. So when David says, “The Lord is with me; He is my helper, I look in triumph on my enemies,” he uses the word ezer (Psalm 118:7).

Ezer is related to the word for “rock,” or eben. Thus, the Ebenezer stone mentioned in the Bible was a “stone of help.” It was a tangible reminder for the Israelites of the Lord’s power and support.  Even the famous prophetEzra’s name comes from ezer and means “helper.”

Wives, let’s  think about what it means to be strong like a “rock” for our husbands, our families and the broken and hurting world around us.  Your challenge is to draw strength from the Lord so that you are a source of strength for a husband who will sometimes be weak.

Now, I don’t want you guys to feel left out.  So tomorrow, we’ll take a closer look at Gideon and explore how God transformed a man who felt “less than” into a “mighty man of valor.”  I’ll say it again. God loves us when we are weak, but He delights in making us strong!

Honor Book mar

 

Honor Book DEC

 

 

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December 9, 2015

30 Days of Hopeful: Day 21

By marilynnchadwick

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for…” (Hebrews 1:1 KJV).  What things are you hoping for?  I come from several generations of school teachers.  If your mother was anything like mine, she reminded you never to end a sentence with a dangling preposition, such as “hoping for.”  So let’s ask the question another way: “For what things are you hoping?”  The King James Version completes the verse: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  There’s a mysterious element, an “unseen” aspect to this thing called hope.

According to my “big fat Greek Bible,” the word elpis, translated as “hope,” describes an “inner, psychological sense of hope” and defines it as “confidence, eager anticipation, expectation, longing, or aspiration of the heart.”*

That’s a big hope—a risky, audacious brand of hope.  I don’t see a lot of “high hope” these days. People seem guarded. Cautious. Afraid to “get their hopes up.”  I don’t know about you, but I am more afraid of low-level living–without this kind of daring hope–than I am of falling from the cliff of high hopes.

Let’s ponder the question one more time: What are you hoping for? Let the thought roll around in your mind. Take it to the Lord and ask: “Lord, is this hope from you?” Then, over the next few days, seek Him with your whole heart.  Watch.  Listen.  Spend time in His Word.  Share your hope or dream with a wise friend.

Remember. Hope is hard. It calls for courage.   It’s costly and requires constant filling by the Holy Spirit.   Over the years, I have learned that to hold onto a high hope, you have to stay close to Jesus.

But with a God-given hope, the sticking power of the Holy Spirit, the affirmation of God’s Word, and a few good friends, nothing is too good to be true.  And nothing is too hard for God.

 

* The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NIV version, Spiros Zhodiates, ThD. Editor, (AMG publishers), is my personal favorite Bible ever!

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December 8, 2015

30 Days of Hopeful: Day 20

By marilynnchadwick

Here’s a little secret: Hope is not just an attitude or an ambition. It’s a person. His name is Jesus. But my guess is you already knew that.  Sounds so simple—yet if you’re like me, you sometimes forget that Jesus is a real, living person. He’s the whole point of our faith. The indwelling presence that animates our very life.

I’ve heard it said that if you want to succeed in life, then “the main thing is to make the main thing the main thing.” In our case, as believers, the “main thing” is Jesus.

The Apostle Paul knew this full well. Here’s how he identifies himself in his letter to his young protégé, Timothy: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Timothy 1:1). He says that Christ Jesus, Himself, is our hope.

We often try to build our hope on strength, ambition, dreams, Bible study practices, knowledge, or even friends. But in the end, the only lasting hope, the hope that stands up under fire, is Christ Jesus. Paul fastened his identity and his hope to Jesus.  It’s clear he knew his destiny and calling as an apostle by the command of God. But beyond that, he knew Christ Jesus as his “hope.”

This is day 20 of 30 Days of Hopeful. Hope is just one dimension of our life as believers. The Bible lists hope, along with faith and love, as the three attributes which remain with us into eternity (1 Corinthians 13:13). I can’t quite get my head around that one just yet.

For now, let’s simply ponder the thought that hope is a person. We have hope as we reflect upon Jesus; talk with Him; dwell in Him; meditate on His Word; get to know Him better.

So Pray. Listen. Worship. Serve. Give. Spend time in solitude with Jesus. Look for Him in the faces of the least and the lost. You’ll increase the fires of your hope because you’ll get to know true hope—His name is Jesus.

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December 3, 2015

30 Days of Hopeful: Day 15

By marilynnchadwick

Some of your personal hopes and dreams may be big ones.  Enormous, in fact.  A baby. A spouse. The healing of a life threatening disease. God often says a quick “yes” to our prayers. But sometimes, He says “wait.”  Perhaps we have some growing to do before the answer comes.

The reality of life on earth is that we are always waiting for something. Always hoping.   Always dreaming. The challenge is to keep our hope alive in the middle of circumstances we don’t like so much.

We can learn to wait for our answers with joyful expectation. What we don’t want to do is give up. Accept the status quo. Lower our expectations, or worse, find ways to numb out. Too much social media, shopping, work, wine. There are plenty of pain killers out there. Problem is, they often kill our hopes, too.

Here are a few practical ways to kindle your fires of hope—even in the middle of a storm:

  1. First take care of your house–your physical house, that is. You can’t control when your dream comes true, but you can take steps to clean up your act. Be sure to eat well and get enough exercise. Get rid of known sin. Bad habits. Be ruthless. Hunt them down. Hebrews 12:1 challenges us to “throw off whatever hinders and the sin that so easily besets…and run our race with perseverance.”
  2. Take care of your actual house—your home. While you are waiting is a great time to declutter your surroundings.   It can be healing to clear out what you don’t need. Give it away. Simplify. Create structure. Order. Peace.
  3. Explore and develop your spiritual gifts. “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10).  You’ll find your life as you give it away.
  4. Rest more. Go to the Lord often. Soak in the promises of His Word. “Come to me you who are heavy laden,” said Jesus, “and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-30). It takes energy to fight the fight of faith. To hold onto your hope while you wait for your dream.
  5. Don’t travel alone. Find your teammates. God gives you endurance and encouragement through His Word to help you keep hope alive (Hebrews 15:4-6). He also gives us unity in spirit. Fellow believers. Prayer partners. The body of Christ.

 

 

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November 30, 2015

30 Days of Hopeful: Day 12

By marilynnchadwick

“How can I grow my hope?”  The woman sounded near-desperate.  She was weary from battling a long illness.  She felt weak.  Unworthy.  Unable to strive any longer.

So just how does one grow hope?  Especially when feeling weak and broken?  It’s not like you can suddenly will hope to appear.  And if hope is only for the strong, then the news is not good for any of us–we’re all weak and broken at times.  But must of us recognize it when hope springs up in our heart.  And we sure know when it’s missing.

What would you say to someone who needs hope?  You may care deeply for your friend or loved one, but you can’t physically give them the hope that lives in your own heart.  You can try to encourage.  Speak words of life.  Point out reasons to dream and not give up.  But you can’t cause hope to magically appear.

God knows we all need hope.  His Word encourages us to grab hope through the good news of the gospel:   “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4 ESV).  Simply put, God’s Word reminds us that hope comes through perseverance, as we draw strength and inspiration  through the Scriptures.

But what if you’re like my friend--unable to endure or even read the Bible for hope?  The next verses read more like a prayer especially for you: “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement…” (Romans 15:5-6 NIV).

Did you catch that? God is the one who gives us the endurance and encouragement we need. We may be weak and faltering, but we can still go to God as His child, and receive the strength and encouragement we desperately need–straight from His hand.

In case we still need one more push toward hope,  the Bible points us to God as the giver of hope itself:  “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 NLT).   One version even refers to Him as the “God of hope” (Romans 15:13 ESV).

So if you need hope today.…and if you’re feeling a little too weak to endure or draw strength from the Scriptures…my prayer is simply that the “God of hope,” Himself, will fill you to overflowing with hope through the mysterious, unexplainable power of His Holy Spirit!

 

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