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Archive for the ‘Pondering Biblical Truth’ Category

It Comes Down to Faith

Posted in Called to write, God's promises, Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Overcoming distractions, Overcoming self-doubts, Pondering Biblical Truth, Writer's Life on July 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

10-1113tm-vector2-3103Do you put off doing things because you don’t believe you can do them? Do you have half-written manuscripts waiting to be finished? What about ideas that you’ve tucked away – somewhere? Are you putting off registering for the Colorado Christian Writers Conference or the  Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference because you’re uncertain that you have what it takes to get in print?

Yes, procrastination is a very real foe, but I am convinced the real reason we procrastinate is because we don’t believe we can do something. And actually, that’s true! We need God’s enabling to do the work He calls us to do. The key is knowing what He is calling us to do. The Living Bible paraphrase of Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do everything God asks me to do with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.”

It comes down to faith – to believing in the One who calls us and choosing to say “yes, Lord, here am I.”Dream%20With%20Me_album%20cover

I want to encourage you to read aloud the “Writer’s Statement of Faith” below. You may need to read it aloud several times a day. I know I do! I also want to encourage you to watch this video of pre-teen Jackie Evancho singing “To Believe.” Yes, Father, help us to believe that we really can make a difference and bring peace – Your peace – to our troubled world.

A Writer’s Statement of Faith

I have strength for all things in Christ Who Empowers me-I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength in me, [that is, I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]. Phil. 4:13 AMP

Are you called to help others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies, so that God will be glorified. 1 Pet. 4:11 TLB

[Not in my own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in me – energizing and creating in me the power and desire – both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. Phil. 2:13 AMP

My strength must come from the Lord’s mighty power at work within me. Eph. 6:10 TLB

In Him in every respect I am enriched, in full power and readiness of speech (to speak of my faith), and complete knowledge and illumination (to give me full insight into its meaning). 1 Cor. 1:5 AMP

Now I have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing His will are mine during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 1:7 TLB

I actually do have within me a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ. 1 Cor. 2:16 TLB

I can be a mirror that brightly reflects the glory of the Lord. 2 Cor. 3:18 TLB

I will commit everything I do to the Lord. I will trust Him to help me do it and He will. Ps. 37:5 TLB

I will lean on, trust and be confident in the Lord with all my heart and mind, and choose not to rely on my own insight or understanding. Prov. 3:5 AMP

I will commit my work to the Lord, then it will succeed. Prov. 16:3 TLB

Sharing Christ is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me. Col. 1:29 TLB

I will be strong and courageous and get to work. I will not be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with me; He will not forsake me. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly. 1 Chron. 28:20 TLB

I need to keep on patiently doing God’s will if I want Him to do for me all He promised. Heb. 10:36 TLB

I m convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in me will continue until the day of Jesus Christ – right up to the time of His return – developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in me. Phil. 1:6 AMP

His mighty power at work within me is able to do far more than I would every dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond my highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes. Eph. 3:20 TLB

From Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers. For more excerpts, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

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Overcoming the Accuser

Posted in Called to write, Colorado Christian Writers Conference, Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Overcoming self-doubts, Pondering Biblical Truth on June 28, 2013| 1 Comment »

Have you ever been ready to give up? Have you tried everything you know but feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall?  What do you do when the accuser tells you that your best isn’t good enough – that it never has been and never will be?

Perhaps it’s a manuscript you’ve been working on for years. You’ve rewritten it not just once or twice but many times. Still you’ve been unsuccessful in finding anyone interested in publishing it. And it makes no sense because you know it’s something God has called you to write. You’ve studied the craft. You’ve  gone to critique groups and conferences  trying to find that missing something.  And now . . . now you’re not sure you can keep on keeping on.

That was my experience with my first book that some of you know was rejected by 42 publishers over a six year period . If I had given up (and believe me, there were many times I wanted to), it and the eight books that followed would never have been published. I would not have founded the Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference in 1983 or said yes in 1997 to directing the Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

Yet still there are times I doubt–times when as my writing mentor Lee Roddy said years ago, I “listen to the wrong voices.” Frequently I hear the voice of the accuser telling me that my best isn’t good enough as I struggle to get on top of the myriad of details for the July 31 – August 3 Greater Philly conference.  Many days I tell the Lord, “I can’t.” And I know that’s true. Without His help I can’t manage the time pressures and deadlines I used to find exciting.

What can I do, can you do, whenthe Lord doesn’t seem to be listening? Has He abandoned us? Or is He using the problem(s) we’re facing to strengthen our faith muscles so that when the stakes are even bigger we won’t get discouraged and give up?

I’m learning that there are lots of lessons I thought I’d learned (that I’ve even written about in my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers) that I need to relearn!

Keep your eyes on the Lord, on how far you’ve come, and on the prize.  It’s easy to allow problems and challenges to consume us and to blind us to the Lord’s presence, to how far we’ve come, and to the prize.  “I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us” (Philippians 3:14 TLB) Paul wrote from prison in Rome. He had reason to be greatly frustrated and discouraged by the loss of his freedom. He could have questioned the Lord and concluded that his ministry was over. Instead he focused on the needs of the churches and wrote letters that continue to encourage Christ-followers almost 2,000 years later.

Cut the tapes from your past. Although Paul never forgot the person he was before he encountered the Lord on the Damascus Road, he did not wallow in the past or dwell on what others thought or said about him. Instead he embraced the truth of Zephaniah 3:17: “He is a mighty Savior. He will give you victory. He will rejoice over you with great gladness; he will love you and not accuse you” (TLB). Paul was able to preach and write about the message of salvation because he had experienced firsthand God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Don’t grieve the Lord by your lack of faith. Although sometimes it does seem that He’s not listening, we need to trust that He will equip us with all we need for doing his will (see Hebrews 13:20). It’s not easy to wait on the Lord and to have Hebrews 11:1 faith in what we can’t yet see, but “God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises” (Romans 11:29 TLB).

Do your best and trust God for the rest. The fear of failure can paralyze us if we let it, and that’s exactly what our adversary wants. I grieve for the books that have not been published and the ministries that have been abandoned because of the evil one’s accusations that our best will never be good enough.

Father, help us to believe You and not the accuser. Thank You for loving us and for being bigger than our perceived failures. Thank You for encouraging us not to give up. We will keep on expecting you to help us. We will praise you more and more. We will walk in the strength of the Lord our God (Psalm 71:14, 16 TLB).

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Put on the Armor

Posted in Called to write, God's promises, Persecution of Christians, Pondering Biblical Truth, Writer's Life on May 5, 2013| 5 Comments »

Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.
Ephesians 6:11-12 NIV

My hands tied behind my back, I was dragged before a tribunal of cloaked men. They accused me of subversion against the government because of my faith in Jesus Christ. I could not deny the charges, for spread across the table were books and articles I had written.

The congregation’s singing brought me back to reality. Had I dozed off or seen a vision? I’ll never know for sure. But I do know the Lord spoke to me. “Do you realize, Child,” I felt Him say, “that the things you are writing may one day convict you? Are you willing to follow Me despite the cost?”

It was a sobering moment. I didn’t ask Him to give me a closer look at the titles of my published works. And I didn’t answer quickly or feel very brave when I finally said, “Yes, Lord.”

That was fifteen years ago. Societally, things were bad and getting worse; but Christians generally were seen as part of the answer—not the problem. We were not the frequent brunt of jokes on TV sitcoms and talk shows. Media coverage was not openly biased. Gays were not militant. People did not worry about being politically correct. The New Age was beginning to infiltrate some churches, but few discerned its danger.

Things are changing—rapidly. We can no longer ignore all the signs that point to the return of Christ. They challenge us to be actively involved in spreading the Gospel while the doors remain open to produce and distribute Christian literature. But we do need to count the cost. In a very real way, writing for the Lord puts us on the front lines where “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12 NIV). To go into battle without the “full armor of God” (Eph. 6:11 NIV) is dangerous.

“This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels,” The Message says. “Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued” (Eph. 6:12-13). Having been defeated too often, I’m learning to pray on the armor every morning that I might “resist the enemy whenever he attacks, and when it is all over . . . still be standing up” (Eph. 6:13 TLB).

“Lord,” I pray, “help me to gird myself with your belt of truth’” (Eph. 6:14 NIV). “Give me discernment that I might immediately recognize the enemy’s lies and half-truths. Help me to refuse to receive or believe them.” When a manuscript is returned and those insistent inner whispers threaten to defeat me, I buckle the belt of God’s truth more tightly around me. I affirm, often out loud, that the return of one manuscript (or dozens of manuscripts) does not mean I should quit writing. I know God has called me to write, but that is not a guarantee of accepted manuscripts. I must keep developing the gifts of writing and marketing and persevere.

The breastplate of righteousness (Eph. 6:14 NIV) protects my most vulnerable area—my heart, the home of my feelings and emotions. It is so easy for me to be wounded by others, to allow myself to be influenced by fear of what they might say or think. I need to be constantly vigilant against the temptation to compromise because “everyone else is doing it.” I cannot pad my writing expenses on my Schedule C. I cannot be careless attributing quotes or use copyrighted material without permission. Instead, I must handle every aspect of the business side of my writing in a way that honors the Lord. My first priority must be to bring glory to Him and not to myself. “Lord,” I pray, “help me today to consistently choose to do what is right in Your eyes.”

Putting on the shoes of readiness to share the Gospel (Eph. 6:15) protects me from the temptation to get sidetracked. There are often other things I can do and write that would require less time and effort, but if I am to be a soldier of the King, I must take my orders from Him. I need to follow His marching orders instead of asking Him to bless mine. When I walk in obedience, I find that my feet do not become bruised and weary from going places He never intended me to go. I also find that when I say yes to what He wants me to do, rather than yes to what others tell me I should do or what I feel they expect me to do, I am filled with peace instead of tension.

I prayerfully pick up the shield of faith to “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16 NIV). I ask God to make me mighty in spirit—to help me to walk by faith, not by sight. I also ask Him to help me not to lower my shield by nurturing doubts. A soldier can be fatally wounded if he lowers his shield for only a moment.

The helmet of salvation (Eph. 6:17 NIV) protects my thought life. Each morning I thank God that I do not have to be bound by old habits and thinking  patterns. I ask Him to continue His work of transforming me by renewing my mind (Rom. 12:2) and giving me the “thoughts and mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16 TLB).

Finally, there is the one offensive piece of armor. It is with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17 NIV) that we go forth into battle to confront the evil of our day. Doing so doesn’t mean we are supposed to hit our readers over the head with the Bible. Instead, I pray that God’s Word will so permeate my life that the principles of Scripture will be evident in all I do, say, and write.

“The enemy is within the gates,” Chuck Colson wrote in Against the Night (Servant Publications, 1989, p. 19). “I believe that we do face a crisis in Western culture, and that it presents the greatest threat to civilization since the barbarians invaded Rome” (p. 23). But God commands us to trust Him. Even when facing the spirit of the antichrist, we need not fear because “the one who is in [us] is greater than the one who is in the world” (l John 4:4 NIV). We need to “pray all the time” (Eph. 6:18 TLB) and to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power” (Eph. 6:10 NIV) knowing that Jesus has already won the battle.

 Responding to God’s Call to Write

 Study Ephesians 6:10-18 in several translations or paraphrases. Ask the Lord to show you what each piece of the armor can mean in your life. List those insights below and begin to daily pray on the armor.

Belt of truth                                                                                      

Breastplate of righteousness 

Shoes of readiness                                                                          

Shield of faith 

Helmet of salvation 

Sword of the Spirit


From Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writers by Marlene Bagnull. ACW Press. © 1990, 1999 Marlene Bagnull.

 

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Crisis of Confidence

Posted in Called to write, God's promises, Overcoming self-doubts, Pondering Biblical Truth, Publishing journey, Writer's Life on April 26, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Grumbling face cropped


When I am weak,
then I am strong—
the less I have,
the more I depend on him.

2 Corinthians 12:10

Suddenly everything seemed to be getting in the way of my writing. Other things, good things, were demanding time and energy. I didn’t see how I could say no. When I walked past my office and felt a twinge of guilt, I told myself my hectic schedule was only temporary. Besides, I couldn’t let people down when they were depending on me.

 

One day Anne Sirna, my writing mentor, helped me to see what was happening. “You’re running from the very thing you most want to do,” she said. “You’re running from your writing. Don’t you see?” she explained, when I looked puzzled. “New writing opportunities are stretching before you and, to put it bluntly, you’re scared. You’re protecting yourself from the possibility of failure by becoming so involved with other things that you have an excuse not to write.”

She’s right. I am afraid of failure, I admitted to myself. I don’t have confidence in my writing ability. And I have been saying yes to other things to avoid having to prove myself.

“It’s a cop-out to see yourself as a failure,” she continued, as if reading my thoughts. “You’ve served your apprenticeship. It’s time to move on—to make a commitment to being successful even though success is a lonely and risky thing.”

Everyone who is serious about writing will face similar turning points when the choice must be made—move ahead or turn back. Repeatedly, we will be forced to ask ourselves whether or not we are willing to risk failure, if doing God’s will is more important to us than the acceptance and approval of men.

It is not just beginning writers who feel anxious when starting a new project, or mailing a completed manuscript. Even established writers know their work may not be accepted. Success brings with it a heavier responsibility to produce quality work. Self-expectations, as well as the expectations of editors, become greater. At any moment a “crisis of confidence,” as Anne calls it, can occur.

It can be triggered by many things. We may feel trapped in an interminably long period of writers’ block. An editor may require a rewrite of something we felt was our very best work. A manuscript we were sure would be accepted may be returned. It may even be a manuscript we wrote on assignment. I remember when that happened to me. I was devastated! Besides the blow to my ego, I felt I had let the editor down. He expected me to produce something he could use.

I had reached one of those turning points. I could choose to play it safe and turn down future assignments. I could accept them (and even seek them) despite my feelings of inadequacy. Or, I could give up and quit.

I remember flipping through the pages of my Bible. Colossians 1:29 leaped out: “This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me.”

Knowing that Paul wrote those words from prison made them even more meaningful to me. I imagined how the Evil One must have used that time to try to persuade Paul to question his call. Surely he did not miss the opportunity to remind Paul of past failures, as well as the times of hardship and hostility. Paul’s spirit had absorbed rebuffs and criticism, even from fellow Christians. His body carried the scars of beatings and lashings.

“Is it worth it?” Satan must have whispered more than once. “If God really called you to be a missionary, then why is he allowing you to rot here in prison?”

But Paul chose to remain true to his call to spread the Good News by writing letters that might otherwise not have been written. “What has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel,” he wrote (Phil. 12 NIV).

But Paul met the Lord on the Damascus Road, I thought to myself. He knew Jesus more intimately than I do.

Yes, I could argue that Paul had a greater measure of faith because of these experiences. Yet he also knew what it meant to go from tremendous spiritual highs to deep lows and to be plagued with a thorn in his flesh. If, as some commentators suggest, Paul had epilepsy or an eye disease, it must have caused him to wrestle with doubts. How could he preach if he might have a seizure, or write if he could not see?

God did not remove the thorn. Instead, he told Paul, “I am with you; that is all you need. My power shows up best in weak people” (2 Cor. 12:9). Paul chose to rely on this promise and to affirm: “When I am weak, then I am strong—the less I have, the more I depend on him” (2 Cor. 12:10).

The cure for a crisis of confidence is to re-examine in what, or more importantly, in whom, we have placed our confidence. “I know the one in whom I trust,” Paul wrote to Timothy (2 Tim. 1:12). That’s the key. It’s not self-confidence, but God-confidence!

“Stir into flame the strength and boldness that is in you,” Paul counseled Timothy (2 Tim. 1:6). Does that mean he expected Timothy never to be afraid? No! “I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling,” Paul admitted to the Christians in Corinth (1 Cor. 2:3). And he didn’t go to Corinth until his second missionary journey!

“Stand steady, and don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord,” Paul encouraged Timothy. “Bring others to Christ. Leave nothing undone that you ought to do” (2 Tim. 4:5). The NIV reads, “discharge all the duties of your ministry.”

If a crisis of confidence is holding you back from the work you know you have been called to do, it’s time to acknowledge that it’s not self-confidence you need but God-confidence. It’s time to learn what it means “to be a living demonstration of Christ’s power, instead of showing off [your] own power and abilities” (2 Cor. 12:9). And instead of running from opportunities to serve the Lord, you need to continue to focus your life and your ministry on the “firm, tested, precious Cornerstone that is safe to build on. He who believes need never run away again” (Isa. 28:16).

Responding to God’s Call to Write

Fear of failure, rejection, writer’s block, or not measuring up, can all create a paralyzing crisis of confidence. Read and reflect on the following antidotes to fear, noting beside each reference how God is personally speaking to you.

Psalm 9:10

Psalm 16:8

Psalm 25:3

Psalm 34:4

Isaiah 41:10

Philippians 1:6

1 John 4:18

Unless otherwise noted Scripture is from The Living Bible.

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Proclaiming Truth in Perilous Times

Posted in Called to write, God's promises, Our Christian witness, Pondering Biblical Truth on April 12, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I had just given one of my Christian writers’ seminars in our nation’s capital. Many of the people who attended made commitments to write God’s answer. Fervently, I prayed for them and myself that we would be faithful to God’s call.

That evening, my hostess took me on a tour of the city. I had been to D.C. several times during the day but never at night. In the moonlight, the buildings were even more magnificent. But I was not an awestruck tourist taking in the sights. Rather, I began to grieve. It was as if God was showing me the heartbeat of my nation, and the heartbeat was weak.

As we left the city an hour later, we drove past the Lincoln Memorial. “Child, not one stone will be left standing on another,” I felt the Lord speak to my heart. Never have I been so aware of His presence, so sure of His voice. I wept for the city and for my nation.

“Are you sure it was the Lord?” people have asked me. “I wish I thought it wasn’t Him,” I’ve replied. Only time will tell. What I do know is that Jesus is coming—perhaps soon, perhaps in my lifetime and yours. And I’m reminded of Jesus’ words before He went to the cross. “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (John 9:4 NIV).

When I wrote this chapter in 1999, millennium fever had even non-Christians believing that history is moving to a climax. So many pieces of the end-times puzzle were falling into place—even more so today thirteen years later. World peace hangs by a slender thread as North Korea threatens to launch missiles, Syria is engaged in a brutal civil war, and Iran continues to threaten to wipe Israel off the map.

Financially our nation is teetering on the brink of collapse. Morally we’re in a free fall. The persecution of Christians is intensifying, and technology now exists for the mark of the beast.

I am not about to set a date for the Lord’s return or pretend to be an eschatologist. Most of Revelation and Daniel remain a mystery to me. I’ve read a couple of end-times novels and really don’t care to read more. The scenario of what may be right around the corner could make for sleepless nights, especially since I don’t know whether the Rapture will be pretribulation, midtribulation, or post tribulation. My gut-level feeling is that God isn’t going to zap us out of the dark days that are coming when the light of Christ’s love will be most desperately needed. But I may be wrong. So may the pre-trib crowd. Again, only God knows.

Even Jesus said, “No one knows the date and hour when the end will be—not even the angels. No, nor even God’s Son. Only the Father knows” (Matt. 24:36 TLB).

So what do we know in these days of uncertainty? Where do we find security if the nest egg we may have been able to accumulate was wiped out in the recession or a prolonged period of unemployment? How do we let our light shine in the encroaching darkness?

“Be prepared, for you don’t know what day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42 TLB). Just as no one expected (at least I certainly didn’t) that the USSR would collapse or the Berlin Wall crumble, the Lord’s coming will be just as unexpected. “The world will be at ease—banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the flood; people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be,” Jesus said (Matt. 24:37-39 TLB). We need to live in a state of expectancy rather than allow ourselves to be lulled into complacency or a business-as-usual, laid-back approach to the work of ministry.  

“Stay true to the Lord,” the apostle Paul wrote from a Roman prison (Phil. 4:1 TLB). If we are to proclaim truth to our dying world, it is critically important that we understand what truth is. More than ever before, we need to be grounded in His Word, so if it were to be taken from us, it would, indeed, be buried deep in our hearts. Not only do we need to know the truth, we need to be committed to the truth, regardless the price tag. Now is not the time to compromise, not the time to bow the knee to any other god than the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how harmless it may seem to “bend just a little” so as not to offend, not to be seen as a fanatic, we must never forget that Jesus said, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me” (John 14:6 TLB).     

“Let not your heart be troubled,” Jesus said. “You are trusting God, now trust in me” (John 14:1 TLB). Even though the world as we have known it may seem to be spinning out of control, we need to remember that none of what is happening is taking God by surprise. He is still in control! He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 21:6 NIV). And despite the turmoil around us, He promises the gift of peace of mind and heart (see John 14:27). We do not need to fear nor be consumed by worry. He has promised not to abandon us or leave us as “orphans in the storm” (John 14:18).

Yes, the future seems frightening. The unknown strikes fear in many people. But as Christians, we do not need to get caught up in dire doomsday predictions. We know how it all ends! “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God” (Rev. 19:1 NIV). We can and must “hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful” (Heb. 10:23 NIV). In His strength, and through His power, we can lay aside all of our self-doubts and feelings of inadequacy and boldly “write His answer.”

Responding to God’s Call to Write

Read the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, asking the Lord to speak to you and strengthen you for the work He is calling you to do.

_____________
Excerpted from Write His Answer—A Bible Study for Christian Writers by Marlene Bagnull.  Phoenix, AZ: ACW Press, 1999. © 1999 Marlene Bagnull. Click here to order an autographed copy at a discount.

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Choices

Posted in Pondering Biblical Truth on March 28, 2013| 1 Comment »

cross

Choices

Arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane,
   You could have called on heaven’s armies;
      instead You allowed them to take You captive.

Falsely accused in a mockery of a trial,
   You could have denied who You were;
      instead You chose to convict Yourself.

 Physically and emotionally abused,
   You could have struck down Your tormenters;
      but You chose to remain silent and endure the pain.

On the way to the cross,
   You could have thought only of yourself;
      instead You spoke with compassion
         to Jerusalem’s daughters.

Nailed to the cross and spit upon by the crowd,
   You could have cursed Your enemies;
      instead You prayed, “Father, forgive them.”

Taunted to “Come down from the cross!”
   You could have done exactly that;
      instead You chose to suffer and die
         that I might have the choice to live in You!

                                                            ~ Marlene Bagnull
                                                    First published in Face-to-Face
                                                                                                    Spring 1984

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Don’t Panic!

Posted in God's promises, Pondering Biblical Truth on February 19, 2013| 5 Comments »

“Don’t panic. I’m with you. There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. I’ll give you strength. I’ll help you. I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you” (Isa. 41:10 MSG).

Don’t panic. I’m not, at least not yet. In fact, I feel surprisingly calm. Or is it sadness – numbness – at the doctor’s words yesterday? My knees are “worn out.” He compared them to bald tires and said both knees need to be replaced.

I’m with you. Thank you, Father, for the assurance that You are with me. I remember the first words I felt You speak to me many years ago. “Child, I never said it would be easy to follow Me, but I have promised always to be with you.”

There’s no need to fear for I’m your God. Father, You know the struggle I’ve had with fear and the hard won victories of learning to trust You in other areas of my life and ministry. Help me to embrace this new challenge – to embrace You.

I’ll give you strength. Thank You for Your promise that You give “power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak” (Isa. 40:29 TLB). I don’t think it’s a stretch to believe that includes tired and worn out and weak knees. 🙂

I’ll help you. Thank You for a good doctor and for the gel treatments that I’m trusting will get me through this year’s conferences and give me time to lose more weight (so important) before surgery this fall. Thank You for the “God-incident” (not “coincidence”) of using the Facebook posts I’ve resisted writing to connect me with Julie Morris and her Guided By Him weight-loss program. I can feel You smiling, Father.

I’ll hold you steady, keep a firm grip on you. Thank You, Father!

What challenge(s) are you facing? Will you trust Him, too?

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The Littlest Christmas Tree

Posted in Pondering Biblical Truth on December 19, 2012| 4 Comments »

   “Is Daddy going to come?” I asked as my mother put the finishing touches on my angel costume.

   “You know he never goes to church,” she replied.

   “But can’t he come just this once to see me in the pageant?” I pleaded. 

   She sighed. “I doubt it. Try not to get your hopes up. I’m afraid you’ll only be disappointed.”

   Despite her warning, I did begin to hope—and pray. But I was terribly disap­pointed the night of the pageant. Daddy didn’t come. I was silent the whole way home. 

   “Would you like to put up the Christmas tree tonight?” Mother asked, trying to cheer me up.

   “I guess,” I said without much enthusiasm.

   Carefully Mother unpacked our little artificial tree and placed it on the buffet in the dining room next to the couch where I slept. Daddy didn’t help us decorate it. Nor did he ask about the pageant. 

   It was a long time before I fell asleep that night. I kept looking at our little tree, wishing it was a big, live tree and that Daddy believed in Jesus so we could really celebrate Christmas together as a family. 

   Daddy died when I was ten years old. The following Christmas I talked Mother into getting a real tree.  We bought the biggest tree I could find. I spent hours decorating it. Each strand of tinsel had to be draped just right. Mother put our little artificial tree in the window. It looked small and insignificant next to the magnificent balsam pine, and it triggered memories I wanted to forget. 

   The years passed quickly. I got married and moved away from home. As if to make up for the pain of the past, I went all out trying to make Christmas as special as possible for my children. It became a family tradition to go tramping through the woods in search of the perfect tree. We decorated it together, baked cookies together, and most important of all, went to church together. Our home was happy and filled with a lot of love.

    Our children are now grown. Arthritic knees and sciatica this year made it impossible for me to go in search of a live tree. Instead, my grandkids helped me put up an artificial tree. It’s much larger that the artificial tree from my childhood. It looks almost real. Yet I feel sad  when I think of the past and of that littlest Christmas tree. By now it would be a valuable antique, but I don’t know what happened to it. I do know what’s happened to me. 

   I now know Christmas is not about finding the perfect tree. It is about the One whose birth we celebrate–the One who has healed the rejection and hurt I felt as a child and who gives me strength to face the disappointments, problems, and fears of adult life.  

   Tears will be shed by many this Christmas as they look back on years past and on present circumstances that do not fit the pretty pictures on Christmas cards. I’ll shed some tears, too, as I feel their pain and wonder if Daddy is in heaven. But I’ll also recommit myself to sharing the good news of God’s love and forgiveness with a world that desperately needs to know Jesus. And my tears of sadness will be turned to tears of joy as I remember His promise to be with us always and to come again. 

 

 

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Oh God, Why? WHY?

Posted in God's promises, Pondering Biblical Truth on December 16, 2012| 3 Comments »

God with us the Christmas message proclaims,
but where were You when our children were slain?
Distraught parents with broken hearts cry,
Why? Oh God, why? WHY?
There are no words that can erase their pain,
only God understands for He gave His Son.

Christmas is more than the Babe in the manger,
it’s the coming to earth of our Lord and our Savior.
Filled with compassion, with mercy, with love
Jesus chose to descend from His throne above.
He went to the cross to set us free from sin.
The choice now is ours to reject or accept Him.

Yes, God is all-powerful; He could intervene,
but then we’d be puppets controlled by a string.
In the midst of our anguish we can hear Him say,
I am with you dear ones and will show you the Way
to give Me your questions, your doubts, and your fears.
I will comfort, will strengthen, and will dry your tears.

There is hope for tomorrow;
one day you will see,
your children are safely at home with Me.

As we all struggle with the horror of what happened in CT, I hope you’ll visit the blog my friend, Rick Marschall, has written. He says, in part, “There is sin in the world. A loving God gave us free will, desiring that we experience life. He did not create us as angelic robots. Such beings cannot know sorrow nor joy. Redemption and salvation cannot be experienced by beings who need them not. No angel ever sang ‘Amazing Grace’ with tears of joy streaming down the cheeks.”

I also urge you to read the insightful article, “It could have been my son,” that Vicki Chandler, a dear friend, GPCWC conferee, and member of my critique group has published with ASSIST News.

Finally, Joel Rosenberg in his December 15 blog, writes, “I can’t help but think about the trendlines and the dark trajectory our nation is on. It’s not just ‘the economy, stupid.’ We are, in many respects, in a moral and spiritual freefall in our country, and we are paying a terrible price.” Joel’s book, Implosion, is must reading.

Father, please help us to seek You and to “write Your answer.”

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Is God On Our Side?

Posted in Our Christian witness, Pondering Biblical Truth, Praying for our nation on November 12, 2012| 3 Comments »

Guest post by CCWC & GPCWC Faculty Member, Rick Marschall

The recent election sees half of America crowing in jubilation, and half disappointed. Nothing new, there. For once the media has it right, when headlines proclaim that we are a 50-50 nation. Generally, conservatives and many Christians populate the corps of those who despair. But everyone lives to fight another day – sometimes, they itch to fight; sometimes they grow weary of what democracy has become.

I have the feeling that once the dust settles – the debates, the analysis, the what-ifs, the recriminations, the second-guessing, and such – many people will recognize that 2012 was more of a “consequential” election than any of the prophets could have foreseen. Forget the negative ads, the “ground games,” the media bias. This was the year that America went off the cliff – not only a financial cliff, but a social one.

The resounding, and fateful, votes across America were on the “undercards.” State ballot initiatives OK’d homosexual marriage, legalized recreational marijuana, and censorship of political speech; i.e., contra Citizens United – two approvals of each matter, spread across various states.

No longer can traditional conservatives and Christian patriots direct their complaints at small court majorities or legislatures that might have been influenced in one way or another.

The people are speaking. The rejection of traditional values goes hand-in-hand with the dependency culture, a society that enables various form of vice. In the name of “welcome,” “acceptance,” and non-judgmentalism, we are calling evil good. America will never be the same: throughout history, societies that so self-destruct seldom hit the rewind button.

I try to reconcile the traditional concept of “the Divine Right of Kings” with the democratic age. God does not SEND leaders to peoples in every case; He “allows” leaders and situations and consequences. Which is to say, we get the leaders we deserve. This is axiomatic. What we do to deserve them, and how we cope with consequences, is neither axiomatic nor automatic.

Those whom I gather under the umbrellas of cultural traditionalists and Christian patriots with me would do well to stop complaining about media bias, cynical campaigning practices, and pandering to voting blocs, however true and pernicious those factors are. The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

WE have let a generation slip away. WE have allowed churches to dilute the message of the gospel so they preach a feel-good, enablement gospel that leaves people without moral compasses. WE have allowed the entertainment media to pollute the sensibilities of audiences. WE have stood by while the educational-industrial complex has gutted schools of the Bible, traditional morality, and nationalism. WE have supported the news media while the commercialization of subversive concepts rolls along. WE have overseen the destruction of the traditional family, the spread of a drug culture, the erosion of personal responsibility.

It is almost ridiculous that, having watched, and often failed to resist, all these trends, that we regard an election whose results we regret and blame politicians or even other voters. Our actions – our inaction – has brought this to pass. How can it be otherwise?

What could we have done, what can we do? A lot. It involves “hurting other peoples’ feelings,” a cardinal sin these days. But Christians have come to the place where they don’t mind offending God, as long as our sinning and suffering neighbors are not offended. It involves yelling out our thoughts at more than our cats, our spouses, and our TV sets – getting in the face of those whom we see as negative influences, from school board candidates to presidents. It involves acting like we love the past, hate the present, and care about the future.

It involves doing what cultural traditionalists and Christian patriots have done through history. Work, sacrifice, fight. And pray, because this is a spiritual crisis more than an electoral contest.

On this Veterans day, with Election Day just behind us, we have a special set of role models before the eyes of our conscience. It always strikes me that many armies in history have been fueled by hatred, but the US military, invariably, suits up and reports for duty in order to liberate, aid, and serve.

“Greater love hath no man than this, than to lay down his life for his fellow man.”

Lamenting the drift of our civil culture, and pausing to honor our veterans, reminds me of the old hymn, “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Its chorus does NOT say, “marching to war,” but “marching AS to war.” Traditionalists and Christian patriots should not necessarily make war, but march for biblical values as if girding for battle.

Abraham Lincoln once said that our concern should not be whether God is on our side, but that we are on God’s side. In the battles to come – and there will be many; there SHOULD be many! – this should be our concern too.

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A moving rendition of the classic hymn that can be an anthem of renewal for citizen-battlers in the fight to reclaim our culture:

Click: Onward, Christian Soldiers

Reprinted by permission from Rick Marschall’s Monday Morning Music Ministry blog. I encourage you to subscribe to his blog for important and insightful articles.

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