Cathy Bryant's Blog: CatBryant.com ~ Journey Blog, page 45

Forgiving the Inexcusable

As I continue to work on A Bridge Unbroken (book 5 in the Miller's Creek Novels) and struggle to adequately portray the book's theme of forgiveness, I'm often overwhelmed by just how much God has forgiven me. When I'm tempted to hold a grudge, to hang on to resentment and bitterness, to bemoan how poorly someone has treated me, just one miniscule thought of God's forgiveness toward me is enough to put everything in the proper perspective.

Capital-T Truth

One of Satan's biggest lies here of late (and probably even further back than that) is that truth is relative and can be found in many different places.

God's Word contradicts that lie firmly with the words of Jesus: "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by (through) Me." ~John 14:6, Amplified Bible

Dear person made in the image of God, if you are searching for capital-T Truth in any other place, you are on a dead-end street.

Father God, my prayer today is that all of us would look to You, and You Alone, as the Truth. I pray for all those caught up in the lie of Satan. Help them to find You as the absolute and unequivocal TRUTH. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.

Check Out the INSPY ROMANCE Blog (& Upcoming Contests!)

I'm delighted to introduce a wonderful new site for all you readers of inspirational romance: Inspy Romance at www.inspyromance.com.

On Wednesday, January 29 through Friday, January 31 you'll get to meet the amazing authors associated with this blog, culminating with a romance quotes contest on Saturday, February 1. The first giveaway is scheduled for Sunday, February 2 for all early bird fans, so be sure to drop by the site for these first few days to get the details.

Then beginning on Monday, February 3, individual authors' posts will begin. (You can catch my first Inspy Romance blog post--along with a giveaway for an autographed print copy of Pilgrimage of Promise --on Thursday, February 13th.) And our Valentine's Day party is not to be missed, with a pack of books given by the Inspy Romance authors for a prize.

Oh yeah, don't forget to like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, and find us on Pinterest.

I look forward to seeing you over at Inspy Romance!

Live loved!

Waiting on God

During my Bible reading this morning, I read through the account of the making of the golden calf in Exodus 32. I was once more reminded of how easy it is to take matters into our own hands, especially when it seems like God somehow got busy with other things and forgot all about us.

We're impatient people. We don't like to be kept waiting.

Even Abraham, the father of our faith, grew tired of waiting on God to keep His promise. He and his wife Sarah took matters in their own hands to produce an heir. The result of their impatience was costly: bitter strife in Abraham's household for years to come.

When we think about how God miraculously delivered the children of Israel from a life of slavery to a life of being His covenant people, we have a hard time understanding their idolatry in building the golden calf. But when we take a step backward to gain a little more perspective, we see the same tendency in ourselves.

God has miraculously delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and did so at the great cost of the crucifixion of His Only Son on our behalf. We've been set free by the only One who can make us free, yet at the first hint that He wants us to wait, we commit idolatry.

How do we commit idolatry? Do we melt all our jewelry down to fashion a golden calf?

No. We put ourselves in God's place by taking matters in our own hands and moving ahead without Him.

So how can we improve upon our tendency toward impatience and the resulting idolatry?

Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! ~Psalm 27:14

1. Be strong. Don't give in to the temptation to get ahead of God.
2. Let your heart take courage. Use the waiting time productively, by strengthening yourselves in the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6).
3. Wait. Do the thing God wants you to do by waiting for Him. Patience comes only in the wait.

Lord God, forgive my tendency to rush ahead of You and put myself in Your rightful place as my glorious Emancipator. Grant me spiritual strength, a courageous heart, and the patience to wait on You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

TEXAS ROADS - Free for Kindle January 16-20

Good morning, everyone! Just wanted to let you know that Texas Roads is free for Kindle January 16-20. I would really appreciate it if you would pass on the information to those who might be interested. You can use the share buttons below this post to share with your social media friends. You can also share the link of this post or the book's Amazon page via e-mail. It really helps us authors out bunches when readers share giveaways and discounts, so thank you!!!

Here's the book description:

TEXAS ROADS   (Book One in the Miller’s Creek Novels) 4.5 stars, 146 reviews
One secret kept, another uncovered . . . Dani Davis just wants a place to call home. With quaint country charm, quirky residents, and loads of business potential, Miller’s Creek seems like the perfect place to start over . . . except for the cowboy who gives her a ride into town. Then malicious rumors and a devastating secret propel her down a road she never expected to travel.
Wishing you all a blessed day! Live loved,

A Two-Part Ticket to Heaven

My grandson loves trains, and being the doting Nana that I am, I like to indulge his passion.

Whether taking train, plane, or boat (or anything that requires a ticket), tickets often come in two parts. One part is given to the person responsible for insuring that all passengers have a ticket. The other part is a receipt and our guarantee that we have a reserved spot just for us.

The older--I mean...more mature--I get, the more I realize that we human beings are an odd (and often sad) lot. We have the tendency to vacillate to extremes. Middle ground is often hard to come by. In many realms the two extremes are either a free ride or excessive work. This is true for the physical world as well as the spiritual world.

But the truth is that it doesn't have to be so complicated, and it's not free. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us about the two-part ticket to heaven:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. ~Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB)

FAITH
All that is required on our part to enter heaven is our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. Now at first faith may seem like a free ride, but it's really not. It's more than just saying you believe in something or someone. It requires you putting your life on the line to prove your faith.

I know I've used the analogy of a chair before, but bear with me just in case someone out there is reading this for the first time. I can say that I trust a chair to hold up my weight, but my faith isn't proven or practiced until I actually sit in the chair.

Faith in Jesus requires that we depend on Him to do something for us that we could never do for ourselves, and that's where the other part of the ticket comes in to play.

GRACE
Grace is God's unmerited favor. We humans are puny and weak...sinful. At the same time, God is perfect and holy. Our sin disqualifies us from being in His presence.

But praise God, He made a way for us in spite of our sinfulness. Through Jesus' death on the cross our sin debt was paid.  Once we place our faith in Him, His grace covers us so that when God looks at us, He sees Jesus, His One and Only Son and the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That's why it's not a free ride. This part of our ticket cost Jesus His blood and life. Jesus and His grace are our guarantee that we have a spot in heaven reserved for us.

Let's also consider the opposite extreme. We can't work our way to heaven either. Why? Look back at Ephesians 2:8-9 for the answer. Because of our sinfulness, if we could work our way to God's eternal presence, we would boast that we did it on our own. Pride is one thing God absolutely abhors.

The truth is that no matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we work, we can't be righteous enough, religious enough, or rich enough to earn our ticket to heaven. I love the way Mark Twain puts it: “Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.”


 

The Key to Prosperity and Success

If you were to ask the average person on the street if they would like to be prosperous and successful, I dare say that close to one hundred percent would respond with a resounding "Yes!"

Of course, the Biblical model of prosperity and success is somewhat different than the world's view--and better, I might add. While the world thinks of these terms in light of power and money, the Bible paints a much broader picture.

Prosperity and success in the Bible are not determined by where we live, what we do for a living, how much money we have in the bank, what type of car we drive, the power we wield in our circle of influence, our intelligence, our social status, or the clothes we wear.

Let's take a closer look at scriptural prosperity and success:

The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.~Genesis 39:2-5

The key to true prosperity and success, which again is much broader than the worldview, is Who is with us. Without the Lord in our lives, we can never be prosperous and successful.

Let me insert a word of warning here. Having prosperity and success doesn't mean we won't have problems. Joseph experienced a pretty rough life--hated by his brothers, sold into slavery, unjustly accused, thirteen years in bondage. Yet in spite of his problem-ridden life, Joseph prospered and was successful, not because of himself, but because the LORD was with him.

Guess what? For believers and those who live according to His will and purpose, He is with us too.

Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

Once For All

I gazed in dismay at the rose bushes I had planted in the spring. A summer of Texas heat and drought had taken their toll. And to be honest, my good intentions of caring for the plants had been replaced by other demands on my time.

I had even gone so far as to purchase a special fertilizer for the roses that supposedly only had to be administered once for the whole season.

Have you ever noticed that nothing in this old world is truly permanent? Hair permanents are anything but. Even a once-for-all fertilizer has to be administered every year.

Praise God, He never changes and His Kingdom is unshakeable. And the best news? When Christ said "It is finished!" from the cross He spoke the gospel truth.

When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. ~Hebrews 9:11-12 (NIV)

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your perfect sacrifice which purchased for us what we could never do for ourselves. In Your perfect and Holy name we pray, Amen.

God First

Life can be scary, can't it? Many times it feels like walking through a minefield. In heavy fog. Blindfolded. Truthfully, we need a guide, and I'm so grateful God is more-than-equal to the task.

With the New Year my thoughts seem to be on auto-pilot, and goal- and decision-making at the forefront. Already I've shared devotionals on How to Make Godly Decisions and All That Glitters Isn't Gold, both dealing with God-centered decisions. This post follows in that same vein.

While it should go without saying that God must come first in our goals and decisions, it's much easier said than done. We think we know best. We want our own way. But He created us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He sees the big picture. He loves us best and most. He has a plan for us, which involves being transformed into the image of His Son, Jesus.

As hard as it is to push ourselves and our desires out of the way and let God have control, we must. (On a side note, that doesn't mean we can't pray for what we want. Our heavenly Father welcomes our requests. But we must be prepared to accept His will and timing, and live our lives in dependence on Him.)

This verse says it best:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. ~Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)

Trust Him
As I said in yesterday's post, Trust and Obey, trusting God is essential. And I've come to realize that it's more than just trusting in Him; it also means trusting Him. Trusting Him to be who His Word says He is. Trusting Him to do what He says He'll do. Trusting Him to take our lives and use them in a way that makes us better and glorifies Him in the process.

Trust doesn't come easy for me. Oh, it's easy enough for me to say I trust God. It's like saying that I trust a chair to hold up my weight. Until I actually put my weight in that chair, my trust is nothing but verbiage. Only as we lean on Him, putting our full weight in dependence on Him, will we actually have trust.

If you're like me, my trust wavers. My belief that I'm trusting doesn't, but anytime I try to take over the reins of my life, I've stopped trusting and depending on Him. That's not a good thing because Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it's impossible to please God without faith.

With All Your Heart
Keeps getting harder, doesn't it? All our heart? Seriously? Yep. As much as I sometimes buck against it, undivided trust is the only acceptable option. We can't say "Okay, God, I trust You, but I'm gonna look into some other options on the side while You do Your work." We have to trust Him with every part of our being.

Don't Lean On Your Understanding
I love the wording here. It goes right along with my analogy of the chair above. When we lean on something it proves that it's something or someone we trust. When we lean on our limited and finite human understanding, we're putting our faith in ourselves to figure things out on our own. It makes so much more sense to put our trust in Someone who is all-wise and all-knowing.

My type-A personality careens toward list-making. When I need to make a decision, especially a big decision, I often write down the pros and cons of each choice. But guess what? While the exercise is not entirely pointless, it is leaning on my understanding. A better way to handle decisions is to precede the list-making with a prayer for discernment, wisdom, and God's insight, asking that He'll remove my wants and desires and replace them with His.

In All Your Ways Acknowledge Him
There are several different translations of the word "acknowledge" here, such as "submit to," "listen to," "think on," and "know." Combining these translations help us understand the wording better. In the Bible, hearing and listening always denote obedience. So acknowledging Him is more than just giving lip service to God (though verbally acknowledging Him is important); it's also acknowledging Him through obedience. Yikes! More dependence and submission.

The word "know" in the Old Testament carries with it experimental knowledge, so acknowledgement is more than just saying you know someone. It's actually experiencing that person, having firsthand knowledge of them. The only way to have that kind of knowledge of someone is be intimately acquainted with them.

Being in close, personal relationship with God is not a suggestion. It's a requirement.

Not only do we have to personally know and submit to Him in obedience, we have to do it in all our ways. It's a second-by-second and minute-by-minute submission to Him. Jesus called it dying to self.

He Will Make Our Paths Straight
When I meditate on the first sections of this passage, it's enough to make me cry and raise my hands in defeat. It's difficult to have this kind of dependence on a God we can't even see. At least it is for me.

But now we get to the good part. The what's-in-it-for-me part. (Yes, I know that's incredibly self-centered thinking. It's our human nature to want reward. Thankfully, our great God blesses our obedience to Him and His Word!)

Who doesn't want a straight path for their lives? This wording suggests removing obstacles, of ironing out the curves and wrinkles that trip us up, slow us down, and hinder our progress. It's His voice in our ear, saying "This is the way; walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21) 

Application
When I wrote book two in the Miller's Creek novels, A Path Less Traveled , I used Proverbs 3:5-6 as
the focal verse for the book. My intent was to address how sometimes living a life of faith means taking turns in the road that don't always make sense to us. (And God has proved this over and over in my life since then!)

Many times in the Bible God directs His people to do some pretty strange things. Moses is commanded to return to Egypt where he's wanted for murder. The runaway slaves are told to take a direction that leaves them pinned between the Red Sea and the quickly-approaching Egyptians chariots and soldiers. Gideon is told to pare his army down to a mere three hundred men right before the battle. Ananias was instructed to initiate a face-to-face meeting with a man bent on destroying followers of The Way. And I could go on and on.

Why does God do this? Why does He place us in seemingly impossible situations?

The answer is both simple and profound: to reveal His power and faithfulness so we can trust Him more.

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er;
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace to trust Him more! 
('Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus, Public Domain, Louisa M.R. Stead, 1882)

Trust and Obey

Photo by wonders777 at stock xchng.It's always been my staunch belief that human beings have the unique capacity to make everything more complex than it has to be. (If you don't believe me, take a look-see at the US tax code...)

The same is often true when it comes to our relationship with God.

Jesus called them "traditions of men." We somehow feel the need to add on to the "thou shalt's," probably because we want to be in control, to pat ourselves on the back for being such a good Christian, and to have bragging rights.

Well, sorry to burst everyone's traditions-of-men bubbles, but there are only two things needed in our relationship with God. While they're not necessarily easy to do, they're far less complicated than what we want to make it.

Trust in the LORD and do good... ~Psalm 37:3a

1. TRUST
In Genesis 22, we see the Lord test Abraham by ordering him to do the unthinkable--sacrifice his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. As a hero of the faith (see Hebrews 11), Abraham doesn't argue with God, doesn't ask why, doesn't put his foot down and scream "No!" Instead he heads out to the wood shed to split wood. The next morning, he loads up the donkey and heads out to Mount Moriah.

What trust! Abraham had enough experience with God to know that He was able. To do anything! Even the impossible, like raise Isaac from the dead.

Only when God stayed his knife-gripping hand as it plunged toward the heart of his beloved Isaac, did Abraham put an end to the gruesome task.

The father of our faith definitely passed God's test, proving that although he loved Isaac, he loved God even more.

2. OBEY
Abraham's trust in God was proved through his obedience. And once more, we learn that there is blessing in obedience.

"...In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” ~Genesis 22:18 (NASB)

APPLICATION
So let's not make our relationship with the Lord more difficult than it has to be.

First, we need to simply trust Him. Why? Because He's proved Himself trustworthy time and time again. Because His Word reveals Him as a loving, merciful, compassionate Father who has our best interest at heart.

Second, we need to be obedient to His revealed will as found in the Bible and His specific instructions for each of us. Though not always easy, His way is always best, and we'll be proven and blessed through our obedience.

    When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
    What a glory He sheds on our way!
    While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
    And with all who will trust and obey.

        Refrain:
        Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
        To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

    Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
    But His smile quickly drives it away;
    Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
    Can abide while we trust and obey.

    Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
    But our toil He doth richly repay;
    Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
    But is blessed if we trust and obey.

    But we never can prove the delights of His love
    Until all on the altar we lay;
    For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
    Are for them who will trust and obey.

    Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
    Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
    What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
    Never fear, only trust and obey. (Public Domain, John H. Sammis, 1887)