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Boasting in Weakness

~ Appropriating the Cross of Christ for Life.

Boasting in Weakness

Tag Archives: Hardship

Bettie’s Testimony

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Christian Love, Cross-Bearing, Family, Marriage, Testimony, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Christian Home, The Glory of God, The Kindness of God, The Sovereignty of God

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Biblical Femininity, Christian Marriage, Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Emotional Healing, Grace, Hardship, Obedience of faith, On Prayer, The Sovereignty of God, Titus 2:3-5, Trials

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:11

The testimony of God’s work in the lives of His dear children is a source of great encouragement to me- especially, the testimonies of the older saints that have walked with God for a long time. I love to listen to His beloved ones testify to God’s faithfulness to them through the decades. Bettie is one of those older saints who has walked with God for many years. Her story is one of the most remarkable testimonies of God’s sustaining grace that I have ever heard in my life.

Here, Bettie shares the hard truth about her painful marriage. She tells about the decades of her life that were full of rejection, loneliness, and longing. She even shares about her own personal struggle with the temptation to find some way out of her marriage commitment- either by suicide or divorce. And, then she shares about the abounding grace and the astounding providence of God that kept her from both of these things. She shares about how after 58 years of marriage, God answered her prayers and gave her the desires of her heart by blessing her relationship with her husband beyond her wildest imagination. Most importantly, Bettie shares how God used the severe mercy of a painful marriage to conform her into the image of Christ, teach her to love her husband selflessly, and trust God with her marriage, her emotional needs, her very life.

At this time, Bettie is a model of beauty, elegance, and dignity. When I met her, her husband had come to the faith, and their marriage was a testimony of God’s abounding grace for all to see. Bettie shared this testimony at a woman’s retreat that I was part of last year- I share it with her permission. I wanted to post this testimony here because I believe with all my heart that as Christian women we need to be assured of God’s abounding grace to us in the midst of adversity. Really, this testimony is for every believer that would be reminded of the sovereign abounding grace of God. It is, especially, for every Christian woman that needs to know that God is working in her life for her greatest joy and His greatest glory, even through the severe mercy of a difficult marriage.

God’s Grace Abounds in My Life-To God be the Glory

“I became born again a Billy Graham crusade in 1952. Shortly after that, I met my husband, fell in love, and became a Catholic in order to marry him. During our courtship, he was very attentive to me. We married in 1953. I loved my husband more than I loved Jesus.

From the very beginning of marriage, God took me by the hand and led me on a life changing journey. I did not realize it at the time, for many times did I say, “But Father, I do not understand.” In due time God showed me and I now understand. It took my life time to do it.

My husband changed after we married. He would not look at me, talk to me or even say my name. When he came into a room where I was, he acted as though I was not there. There did not seem to be any way that I could please my husband. He always seemed angry. I became a non-person. When I confronted him and asked him why he was treating me that way, he denied he was doing so.

I began to read everything that I could on how to have a happy marriage. I was told on the one hand that if I was not happy in marriage- it was up to me to change it. I was also told not to accuse, but to express how being treated like that made me feel. My husband’s reply was usually, “Why should that bother you? It would not bother me.” He wanted me to live my life, he would live his life, and we would just be friendly with each other.”

As time went on and four children later, I thought of suicide. I remember driving and coming into town at the top of the hill and thinking I could just drive over the cliff with the four children (because I knew that my husband would not care for them). Suicide- the thought gave me energy. For a whole week I tried to decide how to do it. By the end of the week, I knew that I could not and would not do it. (God’s grace!)

Years went by, and somewhere about the fifteenth or sixteenth year of our marriage, God led me to a Bible study. (God’s grace, yeah!). I knew attending the Catholic Church something was seriously wrong. I did not know what it was. I found out by studying the Bible. The Bible, the precious Word of God, was like (and still is) sweet, sweet water to my parched soul and spirit. I felt like a dry sponge soaking it up.

I began to search the word for a way out of my marriage commitment. NO WAY! What I found were two very important commands for me. I was to be submissive and respectful to my husband. There were no pre-existing conditions, such as a loving husband. No. Those commands were from me from God. I did my best to obey.

Time went by. By this time, we had 8 children. We went for counseling. The counselor at this time, wanted to see us separately. First, he saw me, then he saw my husband. The counselor called me and said that I should divorce my husband. The counselor asked if I had a lawyer. I said, “No.” He said that he would help me get one. I said that I had to think about it. I sat for a long time thinking, going back and forth in my mind, weeping over the whole situation. I did not really want a divorce, but I did not want to continue to live as we were, either. That night there was a fire in the house where the counselor lived. The house burned down and he died in that fire. Thoughts of divorce were gone (God’s grace!) I do not mean to imply that this was God’s grace- that the man died in the fire. It happened, you must take it for what it is. I only know, from then on, I did not think of divorce again.

I continued in Bible studies every week. I learned that we are to pray for our enemies. So, I thought, if I am to pray for my enemies, then I most assuredly had to pray for my husband. I started praying for my husband.

We went to counseling again, together, to a Christian this time, for several months, then stopped. Things did not change, in our marriage. We started again, and stopped, but our marriage remained the same.

I continued to pray for wisdom and guidance for myself, and I continued to pray for my husband.

In Bible study, I was learning that my life, as a Christian, is a struggle; a constant battle between my old nature and my life in Christ. Through all of this, God was helping me to get my priorities straight. I began to want to be more like Jesus. Over time God would reveal my besetting sins- sins of self-pity, bitterness, and the terrible sin of envy. I envied other people’s marriages that I thought were happy. Over and over again, I had to run to God and cry out, “Lord, help me!”

God was teaching me how to be obedient, how to persevere and endure, how to forgive, and how much He loved me. I slowly began to realize that it did not matter if my marriage was happy or not. What began to matter to me was my relationship with God.

By this time, I knew my marriage was not going to change.

I submitted the last vestige of myself to God, and said, “It’s okay. I except this, if this is to be my life, then it’s okay. Help me to be the woman You want me to be.” (God’s grace.)

But wait! God had something more wonderful than I could have imagined for me. By this time, I am 77 years old, and my husband is 80 years old.

God led my husband and me to another Christian counselor. It started out as we were attending counseling for one of our grand-daughters, who was struggling with behavior issues. God led this counselor to see that something was seriously wrong with our marriage relationship. In this Godly man’s counseling, my husband began to see things differently. My husband began to change. He now treats me with love and respect.

I know that were it not for my marriage situation, it would have been something else that God would have used to each me and correct me. Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Also in John 14:14, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” I asked God to renew my love for my husband, and He did it! After 58 years of marriage, I did not expect this. (Grace abounds in my life.)

I thank God for my life, and the lives of my children that I did not destroy. I thank Him for not allowing me to destroy our family. I thank God for not allowing some other man to come into my life. I was so vulnerable, so lonely, so starving for love, if someone had treated me with the least bit of kindness, I would have succumb, I believe. Thank God, He spared me that temptation!

Through this whole marriage God has become more and more BIG! And, I have become more and more small.

I cannot stress enough how important God’s Word is to me. God’s Word is food for my soul, my very being. I see my own sins. When they were revealed to me, (thank the Lord, not all at once!), the struggle to overcome them made me realize I could not do anything apart from Jesus in my life.

I began to see that I did not really need my husband’s love. I want my husband’s love, but I now know that I am loved far, far greater than I can even put my mind to. This, God’s love for me, truly is everything to me. Jesus does meet all my needs. Through what God has done in my life through Jesus, my love for my husband is different now. My love for him is cleaner, more pure, and unselfish.

This weeding out and fine-tuning that God does takes its time, sometimes a long time, but for me, it was worth it- the suffering, the obedience, and waiting! I like the way Spurgeon worded it- “No, our master’s experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of God must not, would not escape it if he might.”

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Endure in Faith by Looking to Jesus

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, Faith, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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1 Peter 5, Cross-bearing, Discouragement, Emotions, Enduring in Faith, Grace, Hardship, Hebrews 12, Isaiah 52, Isaiah 53, Looking to Jesus, Obedience of faith, Practical Theology, Psalm 22, Sanctification, The Sovereignty of God, Theology, Trials

“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11

Jesus lived and died believing God, and so should we. Jesus lived by the truth that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). For example, it was His belief in the faithfulness of His Father to answer His prayers, that motivated Him to forego the luxury of sleep, in exchange for hours of uninterrupted prayer with God (Luke 6:12). It was also the Lord’s faith in God that sustained Him for forty days of fasting and testing in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-2). It was Jesus’ trust in God’s wisdom to ordain His cross-suffering and His trust in God’s power to deliver Him through resurrection, which gave Him the ability to submit to God’s will and endure the horrors of Roman crucifixion for His people. Jesus endured all of the afflictions of His earthly life and especially the afflictions that He suffered on the cross by believing in the promises of God.

The promises that Jesus relied upon throughout His life are found in the Old Testament Scriptures. All the books from Genesis to Malachi (the Old Testament) contain promises that God specifically made to the Messiah, who was the long awaited suffering servant of God (Isaiah 52:13- 53:11). For an example in Psalm 16:10 we read, “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” In this verse, we see that God had promised Jesus He would neither abandon His soul to Sheol; that is, the grave, hell, or the pit; nor allow His Son’s physical body to decay in the grave after He died physically. It was Jesus’ belief in God’s ability and willingness to keep this promise (and other promises similar to it) that enabled Him to humble Himself in faith and become “…obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

When Jesus was on the cross He was thinking about God’s word. We know this because while on the cross, Jesus quoted from the Scriptures. Eyewitnesses of His crucifixion reported that when Jesus was being crucified, He cried out with a loud voice “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). This quote is taken from Psalm 22:1 where the death, burial, and resurrection of the Christ was foretold. From this, we learn that when the Lord felt most troubled in His Spirit, He held most tightly to His Father’s promises. We should be mindful that Jesus’ confidence in the faithful fulfillment of the promises of God did not diminish the painful realities of His crucifixion. Jesus really bled, really hurt, and really died on the cross. His trust in God to raise Him from the dead did not belittle His cross-work. Conversely, it magnified it. Christ’s reliance on the promises of God throughout His life, and especially on the cross, magnifies the truth that we also can rely on God’s Word throughout the duration of our lives, and especially in the midst of our own afflictions. Since the Son of God was enabled to endure the agonies of the cross through His faith in the promises of God; we are assured that we will be enabled to endure in the obedience of our own faith, in the midst of our lesser trials, by trusting God and by relying on His promises.

If we truly desire to see God transform our lives, we must endure in our faith in God. We need to look to Jesus “…the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross…” (Hebrews 12:2); and be strengthened in our resolve to believe God. We must choose to persevere in our belief in God’s power to transform us, regardless of the many complex difficulties- which may be present in our lives. We need to rely on God’s ability and faithfulness to do all that He has said He would do for us, in us, and through us. God has commanded His people to believe Him. In all things- throughout the trials and afflictions of our live-  we must remember the promise of God that “…after you [we] have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” And, it is for this reason that we can all say, “To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen“

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We Must Be Firm in Our Faith

30 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Exhortation, Faith, The Sovereignty of God

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Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Emotional Healing, Emotions, Faith, God, Grace, Hardship, Practical Theology, Trials

“If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.” Isaiah 7:9

“We must endure in our faith; in our belief and our trust in God. For the Scripture says, “…My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in Him” (Hebrews 10:38). We must endeavor to believe God and trust that He is always working all things (i.e., all the circumstances, all the relationships, and all the events of our lives) out for our good and His glory, even when this is difficult to do. We must trust God all the time – in the midst of seemingly overwhelming personal weaknesses, broken relationships, and even shameful pasts. We must stand on the solid rock of the promise of God: that He causes “…all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose…” (Romans 8:28).

Believing that God will cause all things to work out for our good and His glory can be difficult when those all things include abandonment, abortion, abuse, addictions, betrayal, chronic pain, divorce, mental illness, the shame of sexual and physical assault, or the insecurity that results from prolonged emotional abuse. But, regardless of how difficult it may be for us to understand how God will overcome our painful realities and transform us through them; the Lord still calls us to believe that He can and that He will do all that He has said He would do for us. Only He expects that we believe in Him. For we know that He has said, “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Therefore, we must discipline ourselves to trust God and rely on His ability to work out His good will in our lives – no matter how impossible this may seem to be to us. In other words, we must be firm in our faith. For Isaiah 7:9 warns us, “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.”

Taken from Walking in Newness of Life: Experiencing the power of God in Resurrection by Identifying with Christ in His Death and Burial, pp. 95-96

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Video

I Asked The Lord – Indelible Grace

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Confession of Sin, Cool Christian Tunes, Edification, Encouragement, Good Poetry, Music, Testimony, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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Cross-bearing, Grace, Hardship, John Newton, Obedience of faith, Practical Theology, Sanctification, The Sovereignty of God, Trials, Worship

Totally where I am at today. Found the hymn by a “providential-accident” (that is an intentional oxymoron). I haven’t heard this hymn for a while, but I needed to hear it today.  I needed to be reminded that coming to grips with the wickedness and treachery of my own heart (at deeper and deeper levels) is a necessary prerequisite to true holiness. I also needed to be reminded that when I do become painfully aware of my sin- it is a blessed gift of grace that shouldn’t cause me to despair of any hope for true holiness. But, instead, that awareness is intended by God to drive me to Him, and seek Him for more of the gracious blood-bought sanctifying work of the Lord in my life.

If you are feeling the “hidden evils of thine heart” or as though the Lord has allowed “the angry pow’rs of hell” to “assault thine soul in every part,” then perhaps this hymn is totally where your at too.

Happy Saturday.

John Newton wrote this hymn. The following paragraph gives the nut-shell testimony of his conversion experience. You can read the entire biographical sketch by following the link at the bottom of this post. I have also included the words to the hymn on the bottom of the page.

Newton, John, who was born in London, July 24, 1725, and died there Dec. 21, 1807, occupied an unique position among the founders of the Evangelical School, due as much to the romance of his young life and the striking history of his conversion, as to his force of character. His mother, a pious Dissenter, stored his childish mind with Scripture, but died when he was seven years old. At the age of eleven, after two years’ schooling, during which he learned the rudiments of Latin, he went to sea with his father. His life at sea teems with wonderful escapes, vivid dreams, and sailor recklessness. He grew into an abandoned and godless sailor. The religious fits of his boyhood changed into settled infidelity, through the study of Shaftesbury and the instruction of one of his comrades. Disappointing repeatedly the plans of his father, he was flogged as a deserter from the navy, and for fifteen months lived, half-starved and ill-treated, in abject degradation under a slave-dealer in Africa. The one restraining influence of his life was his faithful love for his future wife, Mary Catlett, formed when he was seventeen, and she only in her fourteenth year. A chance reading of Thomas à Kempis sowed the seed of his conversion; which quickened under the awful contemplations of a night spent in steering a water-logged vessel in the face of apparent death (1748). He was then twenty-three. The six following years, during which he commanded a slave ship, matured his Christian belief. Nine years more, spent chiefly at Liverpool, in intercourse with Whitefield, Wesley, and Nonconformists, in the study of Hebrew and Greek, in exercises of devotion and occasional preaching among the Dissenters, elapsed before his ordination to the curacy of Olney, Bucks (1764).

Link to Hymnary.org: http://www.hymnary.org/person/Newton_John.

I Asked the Lord  (Words taken from Cyberhymnal.org)

“I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, His face.

’Twas He who taught me thus to pray,
And He, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once He’d answer my request;
And by His love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with His own hand He seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“’Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.”

Link to CyberHymnal.org: http://cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/a/iaskedtl.htm

 

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From The Depths of Woe – Indelible Grace

27 Saturday Sep 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Call to the Cross, Cool Christian Tunes, Cross-Bearing, Encouragement, Music, On Prayer, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman

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Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Discouragement, Emotions, Grace, Hardship

From The Depths of Woe – Indelible Grace

The Words of this piece are from Martin Luther’s “Aus Tiefer Not Schrei ich zu Dir”-or in English “From The Depths Of Woe I Cry” (And no, I do not know German- that was a cut and paste). The hymn is based on Psalm 130. This rendition of the From The Depths Of Woe I Cry is distinct, intense, strong, and it has a ‘rugged beauty’- if you are in a season of waiting on God, if you are really feeling your need for His mercy and grace right now- this ones of you.

 

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On Denial and the Sovereign Authority of God

04 Thursday Sep 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Sovereignty of God

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Denial, Emotional Healing, Emotions, Hardship, Obedience of faith, Practical Theology, Sanctification, The Sovereignty of God, Trials

“When we live in denial, we create another world in our minds, a world that does not exist. A world that God chose not to create. It is a way to pretend that the world that does exist – never came to be. Denial is a form of idolatry. It is a way that we worship our own false reality; instead of worshiping the absolute reality of God and His power to create the reality that He has already created. We must be careful to remember that the Lord said, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). That darkness, which GOD CREATED, includes our own dark pasts. Denial in our lives indicates that we either don’t believe God can resurrect our pasts or that we do not believe that God will do what is right by someone that we love (that someone could be ourselves or someone else).

Denial is a judgment that we make; it is a way that we judge God as deficient in His God-ness. We deny reality because we love what we want to be true more than we love the real truth that God has ordained into our lives. If you think about it, denial is a way that people try to be God and try to be the savior of their own little worlds. Denial effectually denies the Sovereign authority of God to be God.”

Taken from Walking in Newness of Life: Experiencing the Power of God in Resurrection (p.99).

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Video

Jason Meyer: The God Who Comforts the Downcast

28 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Cross-Bearing, Encouragement, Exhortation, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, The Sovereignty of God, Uncategorized

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Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Discouragement, Emotions, Grace, Hardship, Obedience of faith, Practical Theology, Sanctification, The Sovereignty of God, Trials

Dr. Jason Meyer just preached this sermon on August 16th. After listening to it, I thought I have to post this sermon to this blog. It just seems to encompass so many of the ideals of Boasting in Weakness. For example, in this sermon he addresses experiencing providentially ordained afflictions, receiving the comforting (strengthening) grace of God, and, in so doing, bringing glory to God through our weaknesses and our trials. Furthermore, Pastor Meyer totally gets the whole appropriating the cross of Christ for life concept. He makes the point that the Apostle Paul intentionally communicates a paradigm for the Christian life in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (which is the defining principle in my understanding of the Christian life; and therefore, it is my personal paradigm for life).

This sermon is a great word, totally edifying, totally the perfect message for someone struggling under the heavy weight of afflictions and in need of  an encouraging word from the Lord.

http://hopeingod.s3.amazonaws.com/video/20140817_JMeyer.mp4

 

 

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Weary in Prayer?

25 Monday Aug 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Cross-Bearing, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, Music, On Prayer, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, Uncategorized

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Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Discouragement, Emotions, Grace, Hardship, Intercession, Obedience of faith, On Prayer, Practical Theology, Sanctification, Trials, Weariness

“Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:3-4).

When a succession of  trials come into our lives, we can get worn-down; we can develop weak hands and feeble knees. This is what happened to Moses in Exodus 17. You remember that Moses had the dubious task of leading a difficult and trying people through the barren wilderness of the ancient near east. After many a long and trying mile, moving this unhappy people from one dry, arid place to another dry, arid place in the dessert, Moses leads them to a place (Rephidim) to set up camp. At Rephidim, the Israelite-malcontents threaten to kill Moses. Their contention with him? They were thirsty, and he had led them to a place that had no water. (I am sorry, but that is just wrong…) Then, after rescuing his life from their hostile hands by getting them some water to drink, the nation of Amalek sets out to battle with the Israelites. At this point, Moses is required to intercede for the people of God – (the same ones that had just threatened his life because they were thirsty) – as the nation’s victory rested squarely on Moses’ intercession for them. And, as to this work of intercession? Well, Holy Writ tells us: “Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary…” (Exodus 17:11-12). You see, Moses’ arms got tired- that is, his arms of intercession got tired- maybe his serial trials left him feeling worn-out and run-down.

Sometimes, when we have a series of trying circumstances, we have to deal with difficult people, and stressful situations, we also become weary in our intercession. It is then that that we can look to Moses and learn from him- to keep believing God, keep praying, and keep waiting on Him by trusting in the awesome life-giving promises of His Word. We see this truth illustrated in the life of Moses in this Biblical narrative. Exodus 17:12 reads: “…so they took a stone and put it under him [Moses], and he sat on it while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun” (Ex.17:12). You see, just when Moses felt like he was at the end of his intercessory rope- God sent his brother and another trusted companion to help him to rest his weak hands and feeble knees. They did this by giving him a seat on a rock, and holding his arms up. We see here two examples of God’s good provision of sustaining grace for prayer. God gave Moses exactly what he needed to finish the race- to stay the course. The Lord gave Moses the strength to carry on- He gave Moses every necessary thing that he needed to come through the battle victorious. We know this because Exodus 17:13-16 closes the historical account of the battle at Rephidim with this record: “And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

In the same way, we who are in Christ can be confident that God will give us His merciful sustaining grace when we need it. The Lord will provide all the means that we need to finish the race- to stay the course. He will give us strength to carry on. And, just like He gave Moses exactly what he needed to come through the battle victorious; He will give us everything that we need to come through our own battles victorious, as well. Only let us believe God- as Moses did. Let us lay hold of the awesome faithfulness of the Lord our Banner. Let us heed the admonition of Hebrews 12:12-15 to “…lift your [our] drooping hands and strengthen your [our] weak knees, and make straight paths for your [our] feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” And, most importantly, let us “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God…” And, how can we do this in practical terms? How can we fail not to receive that awesome sustaining grace of God? Well, the same way Moses did, of course. We can take a seat and rest those feeble knees of ours on the Lord God- the Rock of our Salvation (Isaiah 26:4, 44:8). We can do whatever we have to do to keep those arms of intercession up. Whether that means that we seek the aid of brothers and sisters to join us in prayer, or we tarry in the Word longer than usual- refusing to leave our prayer closets until we hear from God in His Word and choosing to remember both the admonition and the promise of Scripture: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God, will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

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William Cowper on Smooth Talkers…

19 Tuesday Aug 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, False Teachers, The Believing 21st Centruy American Woman, William Cowper

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Difficulty, Discernment, Emotions, Hardship, Trials

Candid and generous and just. Boys care but little whom they trust. An error soon corrected – for who but learns in riper years.  That man, when smoothest he appears, is most to be suspected?

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Aimlessness is Not a Christ-like Quality

30 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by Beth Hogan in Boasting in Weaknesses, Call to the Cross, Cross-Bearing, Edification, Encouragement, Exhortation, Reformed Theology, The Sovereignty of God, Walking in Newness of Life

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Cross-bearing, Difficulty, Hardship, Obedience of faith, Practical Theology, Reformed Baptists, Sanctification, The Sovereignty of God, Trials

Submission to God is focused in its obedience and it is intentional in its faith. Christians must not be aimless in their obedience to God, or vague in their faith in Him. Aimlessness is not a Christ-like quality. Biblically speaking, aimlessness is condemnable; not commendable. We should think about where we have come from, where we are going, and all that we have in Christ; then we will be free to get busy doing God’s will for our lives. Jesus was focused in His obedience and intentional in His faith as He approached the cross. In the twelfth chapter of John we read that as the time for Jesus’ crucifixion drew near, He said, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour” (v.27). We also read in Luke 9:51 that “When the days drew near for him [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Just like our Lord, we should set our faces to go where God is calling us. We should remember that the circumstances of our lives are not happenstance, they are divinely ordained by God for our good and for His glory. Intentional faith in God is imperative for the Christian life; we must believe that God loves us and that He is at work in our lives; making us holy and transforming us into the image of His Son Jesus. In the same way that Jesus did, we also must choose to believe God and be focused in our obedience to Him, even in the most trying circumstances and the most trying relationships in our lives. Holiness is not a result of the process of osmosis; it is a result of sweat, blood, and tears (Luke 22:39-46; Hebrews 5:7). Therefore, we should be intentional about taking up our crosses and following Jesus – in a life lived in the obedience of faith.

An excerpt from Walking in Newness of Life:Experiencing the Power of God in Resurrection by Identifying with Christ in His Death and Burial. (p.86)

 

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Born in 76, saved in 95, happily married since 96, moved from MA to TX in 97- did the reverse two years later. First child born in 99, second and third children (twins) born in 01, fourth child born in 03, fifth child born in 04- started homeschooling the same year. Moved from MA to NY in 05 and then moved again from NY to PA in 09- In all of it, totally feeling my weakness, absolutely embracing the cross, and in an amazing way experiencing the resurrection grace of God. So, I figured why not just boast in it? Hence, Boasting in Weakness: Appropriating the Cross of Christ for Life- 2014.

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