A Life of Worship // Mary Swafford

God has been wrecking my thoughts the last three weeks.  Every time I turn around or read my devotional or attend a worship encounter, it feels as though He is calling to me, drawing me to Him and into a greater, deeper understanding of His purpose.

I wish I could explain sometimes how he speaks to me.  I’d like to say that his words have come like thunder or an earthquake, much like Elijah was expecting.  But more often than not, His voice comes as a whisper, just as Elijah received.  A whisper that seems louder than a scream, that only I can hear.  Words that resonate in my mind and on my heart for days, weeks or longer. 

If that weren’t enough, then it seems God brings his people, in seemingly innocent conversation, and uses them to remind me of what He has been speaking to me.

I have a bad habit of acknowledging His words and then ignoring them, getting distracted, and going on with life.  But in true God fashion, He will come at me again and again and again until I respond.

Right now I’m working through and praying about what exactly my response should be, but I feel compelled to share with you some of what He has been saying to me.

In a recent worship encounter, the speaker said (in the words of the gospel according to Mary’s notes and short term memory) “Our faith shouldn’t be dependent on outcomes, but on who God is.”  

Bam.  

I can’t get this phrase out of my head.  I am,  as I suspect you are, often guilty of coming to God with my laundry list of prayer requests and base the depth of my faith on which of those requests He has answered and in what way.

In our House Church’s we are studying the book of Joshua.  We’re about midway through the book and we’re reading about the allotment of land, the fulfillment of God’s promise spoken to Moses.  In chapter 14, Caleb requests his inheritance and in verse 10, states that it has been:

“forty five years since the Lord spoke this word to Moses.”

Forty five years.

In the book of Genesis, it was about 25 years for God’s promise to make Abraham a father of nations to come to pass.  

It’s not always easy to trust God for something.  Sometimes we quit praying long before we receive our “answer”.  We may even give up.  In giving up, we tend to question God or distance ourselves from him, his word, and his people.

Or, we may have a tendency to laugh like our sister Sarah as she laughed when she heard “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”  Because when God speaks, we don’t believe Him or his timing.

But the memory of the pain and sorrows of unanswered prayers or heartfelt longings linger.  However, we can raise a hallelujah because we choose to trust God and we choose to surrender to His will. Even when we don’t understand, even when we don’t get the answer we so desperately wanted. We choose to look at His track record and what we know to be true.

I read this verse recently in one of my morning devotionals, 

“The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words.  I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.  Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, the Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!”  
Lamentations 3:19-24

I don’t want my praise to be dependent on an answered prayer.  God I want you to be enough.  You are my inheritance and you are more than enough for me!  I want to dare to hope in you.  Not even looking to receive anything more from you because you’ve already given me everything!

Whatever season you are in, I borrow the words of David to encourage you to trust in God at all times. Pour out your hearts to Him. God is your refuge. Draw near to Him, in good and bad, with lamentations and hallelujahs. He will meet you there.

 Photo by Cristobal Baeza on Unsplash

Fearing the Snow // by Heather Dillingham

I recently listened to a podcast about the different types of fear involved when talking about God.

The first fear is fear because you don’t believe, trust, or know Him. The second fear is like the fear of snow.

I don’t fear the snow. In fact, I love the snow. It makes me feel like a kid again. But, while I sit there sinking my hands into the powdery mix, feeling the bite of the cold as a smile spreads across my face, I also know that this snow has the power to kill me if not treated with respect.

So the question then becomes, which form of fear do you view God with?

Rahab had both.

Now, one big thing I want to mention is that although I will discuss one form of fear inside Rahab today, that is not the end of her story. But in our story today, we see a Rahab afraid as a foreigner to God.

“Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.”
Joshua 2: 8-9

“When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”
Joshua 2:11

Notice that she says “has fallen on us” and “our hearts melted.” She was not exempt from the fear that was in the air, nor was she viewing it as a believer.

This is a flip from the norm of the women we have been studying. We have seen obedience, bravery, strength, and fear in the world, but not this type of fear in God.

Regardless of her fear, Rahab continues to push forward and follow through with her word. She protects the spies and then marks her window so her and her family will be protected. The beauty is that God used this fear of Him, to bring her to the right kind of fear of Him.

Spoiler, Rahab doesn’t end her story as a foreigner and in fear. She ends fearing God in reverence and in joy and is blessed by her sacrifices by being in Jesus’s lineage.

My encouragement for each of you ladies today is that just because you feel like an outsider now, just because you feel you are going through the motions of what is needed, doesn’t mean God doesn’t see you and doesn’t mean he hasn’t called you into His family.

We are all sacred to Him. So fear Him yes, but fear Him like I fear the snow. With the heart of a child, full of joy and reverence for the beauty to be seen.

Heather is a contributing writer for Shaken & Stirred. She is a believer, a wife, and a mother to a wonderful (and sometimes crazy) one-year-old. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and listening to podcasts. She can usually be taking care of the home and playing on the floor with her daughter.

Photo by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash

The Big Ask

Esther’s trip to see the King was just the first step she needed to take in search of favor. When her life was spared and the King asked what she wished for, Esther said that she just wanted to have the King and Haman the over for dinner.  

Sometimes that’s what our walk with God can look like. We can be brave enough to go before our Lord. But too scared to make our requests known to him right away. There’s a fear that if we ask the question, we will get the answer we don’t want. Esther probably wanted a little more time to come up with the right words and seeing her husband on his throne, surrounded by his advisors, was probably nerve wracking.  

It wasn’t until the dinner was underway that she made her request:  

“…and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.” 

 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.  For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.[a]” 
(Esther 7:2-4) 

Esther, humbly, breaks down what has happened and asks only that her people are spared death. Like any good husband the King is furious that anyone would dare do such a thing to his wife and when he learns of Haman’s involvement the King has him killed.  

Of course, there is more to this story because Haman’s decree had already been announced to all the provinces of the land. There was literally a law in place that said anyone could: kill, enslave, and steal from them. So, Esther again went to the King and asked him to spare her people and the King literally gives her his signet ring and says to write a new edict in the kings name:  

“The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.” 
(Esther 8:11) 

Esther was given so much favor in that moment and did she have to do? Pray and ask.  

Ladies, how often are we told to just ask? In church, there will be alter calls that ask us to come to the front if we are need. The last couple of times that opportunity has been offered I stayed in place. Stuck. Because I was afraid of the answer. I was afraid to be told “no” by God.  

Is there something you are afraid to ask God today? I encourage you, to be like Esther and make your big ask.      

Bethany Thomas is the Publicity Coordinator and a contributing writer for Shaken & Stirred. She is a daughter of God, a wife, and a dog mom. When not writing for the blog, you are most likely to find her reading a fantasy novel or crafting at her home in Sapulpa, OK.

Photo by Velizar Ivanov on Unsplash

Audaciously Bold

What does it mean to be daring?

When I see or hear that word, I think of action movies where there’s a person who needs to jump out of a plane, or leap from roof top to roof top, or even dive into an ocean. Inevitably, they always make a save even though it should be impossible.  

The definition of Daring is to be “adventurous or audaciously bold.”

This year we are focusing on being daring with our faith. Without faith we are lost. Without daring we can’t act on that faith.

In Hebrews 11:1-3 it says,

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

Think about that for a second, it is only through faith that we can understand the world we live in. It is only through faith that we can believe in the promises that God has given us. Take Abraham and Sarah, God gave Abraham an impossible promise that his offspring would be to numerous to count.

“And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead— a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.”
Hebrew 11:12

In the end, Abraham never saw his numerous offspring. But he did see his son Isaac, the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise. He had to have faith as he was dying that God would see his promise through to the end.

We have the privilege of seeing not only the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham but knowing that God’s ultimate promise has been fulfilled because of his promise to Abraham. We have Jesus in our lives because of that promise.

You and I have the privilege of knowing what the plan is and an idea of where we are going. We also know what our ultimate calling is to reach everyone we can with the message of Jesus our savior and the love his father has for all of us.

So, I want to call each of you to be daring. Take a deep breath and share Christ with the people around you. Pretend that you are an action hero jumping out of a plane to save someone fighting off sharks in the ocean blue. Be daring.    

Bethany Thomas is the Publicity Coordinator and a contributing writer for Shaken & Stirred. She is a daughter of God, a wife, and a dog mom. When not writing for the blog, you are most likely to find her reading a fantasy novel or crafting at her home in Sapulpa, OK.

Photo by Sammie Chaffin on Unsplash