“Would you do me a favor?” Depending on who’s doing the asking we may respond quite differently. To our closest friend we immediately answer, “Sure, what do you need?” Without hesitation or need of further explanation, anything within our power or possession becomes instantly at their disposal. To the one who has asked more than their share of favors and has seldom responded in kind we may be a bit less enthusiastic, “Why, what do you want?” We cautiously withhold our answer to evaluate the cost. Hopefully we have more of the first kind of relationships than the second. What a great gift and comfort to know there are those you can call upon regardless of the time of day or gravity of situation. Even greater is the honor of being known as the kind of friend who will be there in any time of need. This kind of reputation is one that is built over time, tested in a variety of circumstances and once it is earned never has to be proven again.
How do you respond to God? Has He been given the honored standing of one to whom you will respond quickly and without reservation or do you withhold your answer to calculate the cost? Has He proven Himself to you time and time again only to be met with hesitancy upon each request? Or has His faithfulness been repeatedly proven giving you the assurance you need to be able to trust in spite of what your natural mind can comprehend?
How does God responds to us? Before we knew we had a need, He provided the solution. While we are yet calling, He answers. He gives above and beyond all that we could ask think or imagine. He bends low to hear our requests. Ask of God, “Will you do me a favor?” His answer is always, “My child, I already have.”
Truth for Women is in a season of asking, “Will you do me a favor?” As we prepare to open the Women’s Center, a dream and vision of the past 10 years quite honestly we need favors. Many of you who have had the privilege of being involved with us will undoubtedly answer positively and without hesitation to the best of your ability. Those of you who are new friends may want to spend some time on our website, getting to know us a little better before making an offer. Perhaps you’d like to schedule an appointment to meet with us and see first hand what God is doing on behalf of the women of the Lehigh Valley.
We are certain that God has heard our prayers to provide workers, supplies, and finances. His answer to us is, “My daughters, I already have.” Are you someone God is inspiring to be instrumental in His answer? I trust your answer to Him will be that of how you would answer your closest friend.
For further reading:
Psalm 86:7
Psalm 116:2
Romans 5:8
Ephesians 1
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Crossroads by Kim Checkeye
I have been studying the book of Joshua and I have seen things in this amazing chapter that I have never seen before. I love when you open the Word of God and you begin to experience the words like never before. There are times when you read a passage that you have read a hundred times yet all of a sudden, you see something that you hadn’t seen before and it just so happens to fit what you are going through in life.
I have enjoyed watching and learning the leadership styles of Moses and Joshua. Both are so very different from one another and yet each one served their purpose based on where the Israelites were going. Moses was patient, diplomatic and had a reform leadership style which was needed in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, walk through the wilderness for 40 years and set the foundations for the future of the nation.
However, when they needed to go into the promise land, a new leadership style was needed. Joshua was a military leader and had the attitude to whatever it would take to follow the Lord. He was willing to do whatever it would take in order to get the job done and he took risks especially when it came to a time of war.
Was either leadership style wrong? No. Was both styles needed? Yes. It was all about God’s timing.
But what amazed me the most in the book of Joshua was how many times the Lord said to Joshua “do not turn from it to the right or to the left…” God wanted Joshua to listen to His voice and His command alone and not turn to the right or the left but follow only the path that He had for him.
Joshua was about to lead the Israelites into a place “that they have not passed this way before.”(Joshua 3:4) They were about to head into a land that was promised to them but they had never been this way before. Joshua had to rely on the Lord alone in order to know where to go and how to do it.
Many of us find ourselves at a crossroads in life and we just don’t know which way to turn. Most of the time the one path looks bright and sunny because it is the path of comfort. It is the path we always take. It is the path we have always known.
The other path seems dark and there is a sharp turn ahead that we can’t see past. We tell ourselves that this can’t be the path that the Lord wants us to take because we have not been this way before. It looks scary and it might mean change which could mean pain! This just can’t be the path the Lord would want us to take! But in all reality, the Lord is at the end of that path and His hands are outstretched forth to us.
Jehovah–Rapha (the Lord who heals) is standing and waiting for us at the end of that path. But what does Jehovah-Rapha heal? As you study the word of God, it shows you time and time again how and what the Lord heals. It teaches us that He is the great physician and that He pours the balm of Gilead on our wounds.
We see that He heals our physical needs, our emotional needs, our spiritual needs, our hurts, our pains and even our warped thinking. We see that He heals the land, restores our health, restores us to God, He heals the broken hearted and binds up our wounds.
We see that He pardons our iniquities and heals our diseases. He cast out spirits and healed the ill. He healed the blind and set free the downtrodden. By His wounds we are healed.
When you study the name Jehovah- Rapha you see that sometimes God lead the people to the place of healing when they didn’t even know they needed to be healed or He lead them to a place so they could be healed and yet it was painful to get to that place.
Could God be asking you to go to a place that you have never been before in order for Him to mold and change you so you can become the woman He needs you to be for the call on your life? Maybe, just maybe, you are at a crossroad in your life and you desperately want to take the “normal” path that you always take but you are sensing deep within that it is time to take the path less traveled. Could it be that God wants to use your unique leadership ability to lead others into a war that could free their soul?
My question to you is “Which path are you going to take?”
I have enjoyed watching and learning the leadership styles of Moses and Joshua. Both are so very different from one another and yet each one served their purpose based on where the Israelites were going. Moses was patient, diplomatic and had a reform leadership style which was needed in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, walk through the wilderness for 40 years and set the foundations for the future of the nation.
However, when they needed to go into the promise land, a new leadership style was needed. Joshua was a military leader and had the attitude to whatever it would take to follow the Lord. He was willing to do whatever it would take in order to get the job done and he took risks especially when it came to a time of war.
Was either leadership style wrong? No. Was both styles needed? Yes. It was all about God’s timing.
But what amazed me the most in the book of Joshua was how many times the Lord said to Joshua “do not turn from it to the right or to the left…” God wanted Joshua to listen to His voice and His command alone and not turn to the right or the left but follow only the path that He had for him.
Joshua was about to lead the Israelites into a place “that they have not passed this way before.”(Joshua 3:4) They were about to head into a land that was promised to them but they had never been this way before. Joshua had to rely on the Lord alone in order to know where to go and how to do it.
Many of us find ourselves at a crossroads in life and we just don’t know which way to turn. Most of the time the one path looks bright and sunny because it is the path of comfort. It is the path we always take. It is the path we have always known.
The other path seems dark and there is a sharp turn ahead that we can’t see past. We tell ourselves that this can’t be the path that the Lord wants us to take because we have not been this way before. It looks scary and it might mean change which could mean pain! This just can’t be the path the Lord would want us to take! But in all reality, the Lord is at the end of that path and His hands are outstretched forth to us.
Jehovah–Rapha (the Lord who heals) is standing and waiting for us at the end of that path. But what does Jehovah-Rapha heal? As you study the word of God, it shows you time and time again how and what the Lord heals. It teaches us that He is the great physician and that He pours the balm of Gilead on our wounds.
We see that He heals our physical needs, our emotional needs, our spiritual needs, our hurts, our pains and even our warped thinking. We see that He heals the land, restores our health, restores us to God, He heals the broken hearted and binds up our wounds.
We see that He pardons our iniquities and heals our diseases. He cast out spirits and healed the ill. He healed the blind and set free the downtrodden. By His wounds we are healed.
When you study the name Jehovah- Rapha you see that sometimes God lead the people to the place of healing when they didn’t even know they needed to be healed or He lead them to a place so they could be healed and yet it was painful to get to that place.
Could God be asking you to go to a place that you have never been before in order for Him to mold and change you so you can become the woman He needs you to be for the call on your life? Maybe, just maybe, you are at a crossroad in your life and you desperately want to take the “normal” path that you always take but you are sensing deep within that it is time to take the path less traveled. Could it be that God wants to use your unique leadership ability to lead others into a war that could free their soul?
My question to you is “Which path are you going to take?”
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