Faith – Karen Gamble Writes

Petrify

At one point in my life I felt like I was stuck and unable to move.

I couldn’t pray.

I couldn’t understand any of the Scripture I was reading.

Then the Lord showed me a word:

Petrify.

To make rigid or inert like stone; to make lifeless or inactive (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

To make someone so frightened they are afraid to move. (Google)

That’s when I realized that silent, subtle doubt and fear had snuck into my life and petrified me.

This is what caused me to be stuck – I was paralyzed by fear.

I knew the remedy was to replace fear with faith.

I cried out to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to help me to break free and to show me what to do.

A phrase came to my mind.

“Perfect love casts out fear.” .

I remembered this is a verse from 1 John 4:18–

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (NIV)

You can’t have perfect love and fear at the same time.

A few verses earlier in this chapter it tells us that God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (verse 16)

The answer was clear.

I had to choose God and His love over my fear.

Both can’t occupy the same place at the same time.

So I chose love.

It wasn’t easy.

Fear still tried to come back.

It took a while before I was able to walk without wobbling.

But, little by little, as I kept choosing to trust Him and to choose to trust in His love instead of allowing fear to guide my thoughts, I began to get stronger and braver.

I memorized .2 Timothy 1:7 and repeated it to myself over and over –

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (KJV)

I still have moments when the fear tries to come back.

I still have moments when I am tempted to trust myself instead of God.

But, every time I do, I try to fight it

I try to remember what King David said,

3When I am afraid, I put my trust in You. Psalm 56:3 (NIV)

This has helped me so much.

When I do this, I can better focus on the Father and my faith walk.

It isn’t always easy.

Sometimes fear shows up hidden in other things – dread, doubt, uncertainty, anxiety – but if I will look at it for what it is, a stumbling block meant to stop me from trusting the Lord, I can better fight against it when it shows up and head it off.

There will be times when I am afraid.

There will be times when I am unsure of things.

But, if I will remember the truth these Scriptures teach us, I will never have to be petrified again.

What about you? Are there fears getting in the way of your faith walk?

Will you choose to let go of the fear and choose to trust God, no matter what?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. -Jesus John 14:27 (NIV)

Category: Faith, God, New Testament, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Praying the Psalms

I recently did a bible study that involved reading and praying through the book of Psalms.

As I was doing it, I began to see that virtually every verse in there is either a promise, a praise, or both.

Praying the book of Psalms is a tall order. It took working on it daily for a little over 4 months to get through it.

I didn’t try to rush.

I didn’t try to cover a lot of territory at one time.

I just paid careful attention to the verse I was on and the various parts of it.

The study started at chapter one so that’s where I started.

As I read each verse, I prayed it in one of several ways.

I either:

-Prayed it as it was written, which worked for a lot of the praise verses;

-Prayed, “help me not to…”,. whatever the verse was warning against doing;

-Prayed, “help me to….”, whatever the verse was saying we should do or be;

-Prayed, “show me when I act this way so I can correct it…”, whenever the verse was warning against certain unhealthy actions and attitudes

Or,

-Prayed, “help me to remember who You are”, whenever the verse declared His majesty or mentioned any of His traits, grace, or goodness.

It really opened my eyes to a lot of things.

I found that the farther along I went, the more aware I became of God’s good will toward us.

I began to feel more open to Him and to His love.

I also began to feel an urge to praise Him, even when I wasn’t reading a Psalm.

The more I read, the more I saw God’s character.

I saw clearly His desire for us as well as the way He wants to protect and bless us.

It took a long time to complete but I learned so much and it changed me in so many good ways.

I plan to try to do it at least once a year.

I’m certain the more I do it, the deeper my understanding and love for Him will become.

If you’ve never prayed the Psalms I highly recommend it.

If you can’t commit to the whole book then pick a chapter and try it.

There’s so much good stuff in there, you’ll be really glad you did!

Let me know if you have other ideas about how to pray the Psalms.

I’d love to try them!

For my post on praying scriptures in general, please see my post, Praying Scriptures

Category: Faith, God, Lesson Outline, Prayer, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Why Jesus Was Crucified

There is a passage in the New Testament where the crowds are mocking Jesus while He’s on the cross.

One of the rulers even says to Him, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” Luke 23:35 (NIV)

They didn’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God.

It is important we understand that Jesus was fully God, as well as fully man, and as such He had the power to prevent the Crucifixion.

He could have called down legions of angels to fight for and protect Him.

He could have killed all the people who were against Him.

But, He didn’t.

Jesus knew He’d come to earth for one reason – to fulfill God’s plan for mankind’s redemption by going to the cross and paying for all sin for all mankind once and for all.

Jesus was perfect and had lived a completely sin-free life.

By being crucified, He was paying for all the sins of all mankind.

He was trading His perfect life, which fulfilled all the law of the Old Testament for the redemption of all the sin-filled lives of every person ever born. .

He knew many would reject Him.

He knew many would not understand.

He also knew many would accept Him and the free pardon of sin He offered.

Jesus went through with the crucifixion because He loved all of mankind past, present, and future and He wanted to ransom each and every person ever born.

Category: death, Faith, God, Jesus, New Testament | LEAVE A COMMENT

Looking At Judas

Looking at Judas Iscariot I sometimes see myself.

Judas turned his back on Jesus in search of personal gain., choosing to put self and money first.

He even went so far as to betray Jesus by telling the Pharisees where to catch Him so they could arrest Him.

I may not try to get Jesus arrested, but every time I turn my attention to the world and it’s shiny objects, making them more important than my faith walk, I betray Him.

Every time I choose to spend time watching t.v. but decide I’m too tired or don’t have time to read my bible, I betray Jesus.

Every time I say I don’t have tithe money but go out to eat or shopping, I steal from Jesus.

Every time I do it my way instead of submitting to His will, I choose self over Jesus.

The answer is simple, really

Give Jesus the attention He deserves.

Give Him the first of my time and money, not the leftovers.

Category: Faith, God, Obedience, People in the Bible, Submission | LEAVE A COMMENT

What Are You Seeking First?

When I was first learning to walk with the Lord, I struggled to maintain a good connection with Him.

Life and the things in it kept getting in the way.

Kids, work, laundry, even church commitments consumed me.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying.

I was.

It’s that there was just so much going on that I felt like I was drowning.

Then I saw this verse:

³³But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33 NIV

It really got my attention, but it took a while for me to understand it.

I finally realized that I was seeking the kingdom, and the Father, second.

Yes I was praying and studying – a lot.

But I was cramming it into whatever spare time I had.

Reading a bit here and there.

Most of my prayers were, “:please help me to get to work on time,”, as I ran out the door, breakfast in one hand, a to-do list in the other.

I would pray and go over my church’s prayer list while washing dishes.

Even my quiet times were overshadowed by my long list of to-dos and the struggles of the day.

Then one day the Lord showed me it was because I was doing it backwards.

Instead of reaching out through all the pressures and demands of life to try to reach Him, I needed to set all of that down, step aside from them, and just get alone with God.

No agenda.

No prayer list.

Just one-on-one time with Him, sitting in His presence and soaking up His love.

Just the two of us, to get me back on the path.

Standing with Him as I looked at my life and began to focus on it from His perspective, I realized that I had things a bit askew.

Category: Faith, Family, God, Life | LEAVE A COMMENT

The Power of Example

The other night while sitting in a fast food restaurant a family came in.

Because they were sitting close to me I couldn’t help but hear their conversation.

The daughter, about 10, mistakenly thought she didn’t get her drink so she went up to the counter to ask for it.

When she returned with her drink, her mother pointed out the girl’s drink had been sitting on the table all along.

Pointing to the new drink in the girl’s hand, she added, “We were dishonest. That’s not our drink.” She went on to explain to the girl what the error was and why it was wrong.

I was impressed.

Most people wouldn’t have given it a second thought and would have either consumed or thrown away the extra drink.

Not this mom.

When this mom noticed the error she pointed it out and went the extra mile to make sure her daughter understood.

She realized the importance of being faithful in the little things.

It made me think about my own life.

Am I faithful in the little things?

Do I take care of the details?

Do I cheat others without meaning to because I’m not paying attention or think it’s no big deal?

To God it is a big deal.

We’re called to be faithful in the small things as well as the big ones.

Jesus said:
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” ~ Luke 16:10

I doubt the mom realized what an impact her actions made not just on her family but on those around her.

I’m guessing she was solely focused on honoring God with her actions and parenting, but I heard and saw her witness loudly and clearly.

There’s a lesson there.

I need to pay more attention to the seemingly minor details because they truly matter, not just to me but to those around me as well.

As I go through the next week I will be paying careful attention to details to make sure I am faithful in the little things.

I hope you will, too.

(This post first appeared on my now defunct blog).

Category: Faith, Family, Life | LEAVE A COMMENT

Prisoner Alert

One of my personal prayer focuses is Christians imprisoned around the world for the cause of Christ.

Currently, there are 23 known men around the world who are in prison for sharing their love of Jesus with others.

The website, PrisonerAlert, a ministry of the Voice of the Martyrs, lists these men by name and gives a brief biography of each as well as listing where they are held.

By clicking on the individual prisoner’s profile you can find a place where you can write them a letter of encouragement and/or petition a government official to ask them to release that prisoner.

Will you please pray for these men and ask God to strengthen, empower, embolden, and comfort them?

Will you also pray for their release?

It is my hope that through their experiences others will be drawn to a relationship with God and that rather than squashing faith in Christ, their imprisonment will cause the love of Jesus to spread far and wide as these men stand strong for what they believe in.

For more information, please visit the website PrisonerAlert.com.

For information on countries which restrict Christianity or the sharing of the gospel, please visit The Voice of the Martyrs.

Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. –Hebrews 13:3

Category: death, Faith, Life, Prayer | LEAVE A COMMENT

What Is Palm Sunday?

Palm Sunday is the holiday we celebrate the Sunday before Easter.

It is the day we remember and celebrate when Jesus made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

Here’s what happened:

When Jesus and His disciples were traveling toward Jerusalem they stopped at a nearby village.

Jesus sent two of His disciples to the village to locate and bring back a young donkey that was tied up but had never been ridden.

He told them if anyone asked what they were doing to tell them it was for Him and that He would send it back shortly. (Mark 11:1-3 NIV)

When they went into the village they found the donkey there, just like He’d said.

Someone did ask about it and the disciples did tell them why they were taking it. They were then allowed to leave with it.

The disciples brought the donkey to Jesus and laid their cloaks on it for Him to sit on.

Jesus rode the donkey into the town of Jerusalem.

As He did so, the crowds that were with Jesus when He arrived as well as many of the people in the town laid their cloaks or palm and tree branches down on the ground in front of Him.

Category: Faith, Holiday, Jesus, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT

Belonging to God

I was reading a bible study book and it mentioned Psalm 100:3, which says:

Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. (NIV)

There’s a lot of good stuff in this verse, but what really stuck out to me was the second line –

It is He who made us, and we are His,

According to this verse, it is God who made us.

We weren’t made by accident. We didn’t suddenly just exist.

We didn’t evolve from slime somewhere.

God made us.

On purpose.

He meant to do it.

Because God has made us, we belong to Him.

We are His people.

This means we aren’t our own.

Category: Faith, God, Life, Submission, Trust | LEAVE A COMMENT

Count It All Joy…

One bible passage I used to really struggle with comes from the book of James.

It says,

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. –James 1:2-4

So, according to this verse, we are supposed to be joyful over the trials of life?!?

In a way that seems far-fetched.

But look closer…

First, James is talking to other Christians.

We know this because he calls them his brothers.

As Christians, we live within the boundaries of God’s economy, not man’s.

This means that the reasoning and morals of God are what we adhere to.

They are different than the world’s and are often complete opposites to each other.

As Christians we cannot look at things from the world’s point of view.

We must look at things from God’s perspective.

Next, notice he says to consider it joy.

He doesn’t say the trial should be joyful in and of itself.

Category: Faith, Scripture Study | LEAVE A COMMENT