Tag Archives: Faith

What have I got in my pocket?

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Since March, God has pressed me again and again with two inextricably linked powerful words. In these last three months, He has driven them deeper into my soul.

When Bilbo, the Hobbit, slipped his hand into his pocket in a dark place he said, “What have I got in my pocket?”, and his hand closed around a ring of power. I also carry a symbol of power in my pocket – this little empty shell.

I found it washed up on the central Oregon coast, and, in the last couple months, I’ve been carrying it in my pocket. When I slip my hand into my pocket throughout the day, I’m reminded of two powerful words: humility and faith.

When the shell was emptied of its fleshy self, the sea rushed in to fill and overflow it. As long as it was filled with itself, it couldn’t be filled with the sea. Likewise, I can’t be full of the life of God if I’m full of myself. When I’m emptied of my fleshy self and yielded to Him in unreserved surrender, He rushes in to fill and overflow me with all of the fullness of His own life and power. Fully emptied. Fully filled.

Humility is emptying. It’s reverent submission to the One who redeemed me and it says, not I but Christ. Not my will, not my rights, not even my abilities but Christ and Him alone. Humility is my heart deeply convicted of its sinfulness, utter lack and complete dependence upon Christ to be all in all in me.

Faith is filling. It’s the thrilling inrush of the abundant fullness of the life of God and the exceeding greatness of His power. Faith knows and rejoices with absolute assurance that Christ lives in me. That He works every moment of every day to make me all that He has designed me to be, to equip me with every good thing to do His will and to keep me abiding in the realness of His presence. This is His joy and delight.

These two powerful words are true only in tandem. Faith without humility is self-centered and self-reliant. Humility without faith is self-deprecating and hopeless. The two together unleash the power and life of God to do immeasurably more that all I can ask or imagine. Humbly trusting with unreserved surrender and unflinching faith is utterly transforming, deepening the sweet union of my heart with the heart of God and renewing it afresh every day.

Humility and faith together say, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

Please take a moment to read Amy Carmichael’s poem, The Shell, which so beautifully and succinctly describes the life of humility and faith.

Jump!

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Little girl toes curled over the concrete edge of the swimming pool, knees and body bent into a crouch, arms stretched to the max, splayed fingers reached for the outstretched hands of her swimming teacher, legs quivered, heart pounded, unsure, afraid. Her teacher said, “Jump!” She so badly wanted to jump but the water was scary. “Jump!” Wanting, stretching, reaching, scared. “Jump!” Then she sprang into the arms of her teacher. It was a terrifying and exhilarating splashing spluttering moment! Her family erupted into applause.

There are important lessons of faith that can be learned at the local swimming pool when taking your grandkids to their swimming lessons. I watched another little girl jump with joyful reckless abandon. My grandson leaped a bit nervously but trusted his teacher’s catching arms. I’m like him when it comes to leaps of faith. Nervous, a bit worried, but trusting the Teacher.

Sometimes God brings us to a risky edge and asks us to jump. It’s scary and everything in us screams caution, but the jump is never into the unknown. It’s known to Him, and He is present in it waiting for our faith to spring into action. With every jump, something in us changes and grows as we fall into His faithfulness.

God keeps bringing me to places of risk. My toes curl over the edge, stretching out nervously, quivering, wanting, reaching, scared. Every time I trust Him and jump, something in me is deeply changed by His faithfulness. I want to get to the place of reckless joyful abandonment, but I’m not quite there yet.

When God calls you to something outlandish, “Be reckless immediately – totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything – by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes…be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him.”[1]

From the water, Jesus called out to Peter, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Jump!

[1] Chambers, Oswald. (1992). My Utmost for His Highest. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Prickling Faith

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In the soundless doldrums of routine,

Adrift in sameness,

I long for extraordinary…

To be overwhelmed by the living God,

Enveloped in unutterable Love.

To hear the soft pad of Sovereign feet,

The quiet hum of contented Joy.

To feel a stir of air,

A brush of the Unseen against my soul.

Doubt shrieks, “Impossible!”

Faith bows low and waits.

Doubt numbs.

Faith prickles at the movement of Glory.

The Inconceivable draws near,

The Almighty leans in,

The commonplace ignites.

 

Is it possible or just mystical imagination? The logical mind doubts what it cannot grasp. It’s dependent on the perception of its physical senses and dismisses as illusive what cannot be perceived or explained.

The Unseen Reality waits in a dimension beyond logic. He continually speaks but logic hears only thunder. God waits for faith to look Him in the eyes and talk with Him.

Faith is the conviction and proof of the reality of things that can’t be seen.

Faith sees the unseen, hears the inaudible, and feels deeper than the skin.

Faith unleashes the power of God and opens the door to the unimaginable inexplicable blessing of intimacy with Sovereignty. 
…blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. John 20:29b
 

The Greatest Courage

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The greatest courage and deepest faith of humanity

Endures the slow disintegration of the body and the slipping away of independence.

It looks into the eyes of death and begins to see the brilliance of glory.

It stretches a foot over the chasm afraid to let go of here but yearning for there.

It groans as it struggles to escape the deteriorating confines of flesh.

It pains through the stripping away of the body as the soul emerges to unimaginable joy.

It reaches one last time to grasp the hand of God as He lifts His faithful into paradise.

Everest

For all of us who watch them reach the summit…may we be grace givers unto the end.

Afire

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Oh Lord, who have I but You? You are the beat of my heart and the fire in my soul. Blaze up within me! Set my heart ablaze with love for you and love for my brothers and sisters. Let not these words be but flourishes of prose, but let them be the honest and naked passion of my soul.
Oh Lord and Master, you are my life and my very breath. When the fire on the altar of my heart grows small, bring seraphs to my heart and touch me with a blazing coal from the altar of heaven. Purify me and set me, once more, ablaze with love.
Oh Lord Jesus, help me to say…if all else falls away, if I were completely alone…You are enough. My fingers hesitate and hover over the keys afraid and tentative. So, I whisper with weak faith…You are enough. Deepen my faith and devotion.
Oh Father, give me an undivided heart wholly devoted to You. You are the aching throb of my soul. Fill me with your goodness and your love. I am Yours. Do with me as you will.