October Quotes

He doesn’t promise an explanation, but He does promise to walk with us through the pain. 

-Courageous

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote was never lost.

-President John Adams

It’s sometimes in the storm, sometimes in the desert, sometimes in the agony, an’ sometimes in the calm, whaure’er he gets them right by themselves, that the Lord visits his people—in person, as a body might say. 

-George MacDonald

If we win, we praise Him. If we lose, we praise Him. 

-Facing the Giants

If I had never joined a church till I had found one that was perfect, I should never have joined one at all; and the moment I did join it, if I had found one, I should have spoiled it, for it would not have been a perfect church after I had become a member of it. Still, imperfect as it is, it is the dearest place on earth to us. 

-Charles Spurgeon

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. 

-Winston Churchill

To become another’s friend in the true sense is to take the other into such close, living fellowship that his life and ours are knit together as one. It is far more than a pleasant companionship in bright, sunny hours. A genuine friendship is entirely unselfish. It seeks no benefit or good of its own. It does not love—for what it may receive—but for what it may give. Its aim is “not to be served, but to serve” (Mark 10:45)....As he [Christ] loves us, he would have us love others. We say men are not worthy of such friendships. True, they are not. Neither are we worthy of Christ's wondrous love for us. But Christ loves us—not according to our worthiness—but according to the riches of his own loving heart! So should it be with our giving of friendship—not as the person deserves, but after the measure of our own character.

-J.R. Miller

Too often, people want what they want (or what they think they want, which is usually “happiness” in one form or another) right now. The irony of their impatience is that only by learning to wait, and by a willingness to accept the bad with the good, do we usually attain those things that are truly worthwhile.

-Joshua Harris

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Love is extravagant in the price it is willing to pay, the time it is willing to give, the hardships it is willing to endure, and the strength it is will to spend.

-Joni Eareckson Tada

Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are. 

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. 

–Ulysses S. Grant

Guest Post: Schuyler McConkey

Joining me today on Facing the Waves is another special friend of mine, Schuyler. Sharing the joys and trials of life for about 3 years now, as well as studying Scripture in the same online Bible study group has grown our friendship. Hope you are blessed by what she shares today!

Thank you, Schuyler. :)

I remember that chilly November night, walking into a church gym with a crockpot of soup in both hands, and a Bible study lesson balanced on top. I had heard things for years about Bible Study Fellowship. Friends sang its praises, wanting me to come with them to share in the experience. I wasn’t sure I wanted to devote a whole night every week to another Bible study. I already attended an online Bible study and taught one for teen girls. It didn’t seem like one more was really necessary.

Then something in my heart changed.

It was ultimately my mom that made the final suggestion to clinch my interest. “I think you should try it out. It would give you a chance to be spiritually fed yourself and get some face-to-face encouragement on a weekly basis.”

Community.

Something hungry in me reached out to the idea. I wanted community. So I cleared my schedule and gave it a try.

I don’t remember what I thought the first night. Comforted. Convicted. Nervous about fitting into a small group, eager to join the discussion once I did. By the first month I walked up to one of the group leaders to tell her that her message had met me in just the right place, and she spoke words of blessing that warmed my heart. By the end of the year, our small group was meshed so well together, and we had amazing, eye-opening discussions about God and his people as we worked through the books about Moses. By the last month, I started dreading the time when BSF would end for the season. Mostly because the fellowship I had known for six months was almost over, and it would be a whole summer before it started up again.

I had no idea that in finding community with believers, my fellowship with God would be turned upside-down; that in finding this group of loving Christians, I would finally come to grips with the fellowship a loving God desires with me.

There are few events in my life that have profoundly changed me so much as my time in Bible Study Fellowship. These lessons, simple, yet so necessary for a perfection-bound introvert, are ones I hope to carry with me all my life long. Some are small. Some are large. All are vital to a healthy spiritual life.

1. God wants me to be whole, because He wants me to be like Him.
The first month of BSF was an emotionally hard one. When you’ve fallen into years of tight-bound perfectionism, it’s hard to uncover some of those places where you’ve lied to yourself, and go back and confront sin. Hearing the Word of God in a fresh way each week, and then hearing how it should be walked out, hit me in blind spots and rough areas. But over and over again, in between the commands to walk in God’s ways, was the refrain “God wants you to be whole. That’s what holiness is. He loves your obedience, and He loves you so much He wants you to be consumed with Himself.” Holiness quit being so scary, so burdensome, so unreachable—it became a walk of patient trust, knowing that God is doing the work step by step. He will help me keep growing. And He very intentionally allows it to take time, so I can walk alongside Him.

2. It’s OK to share your broken places with others.
BSF is designed to be a place where you share the struggles. The personal prayer requests. The ways God is growing you, or challenging you, or things you didn’t understand. It was a place where I could walk up to someone and get a hug and cry a little bit if I needed to. Many times I felt the love of God wash over me through the healing, comforting touch of one of His children. After the first time sharing my heart with someone, something just came alive in me, and a perfect reputation didn’t matter anymore. Are there hard times after sharing? Oh, yes. Sometimes the memory of being vulnerable is painful. But the love I always received weighed so much more than the need to look like I had it all together. God’s love doesn’t hide things. It gives mercy and healing through honest confession of our sin and our need. It reminded me of the verse in James where God says “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed.”

3. Outside accountability gives you freedom and motivation.
One night I sat next to one of my small group friends after lecture and she asked how she could pray for me. “I need to ask forgiveness from someone,” I said, “and I want to talk to them by the time I come to BSF next Monday.” The knowledge that she would ask me about it later gave me the push I needed to get some things cleared up. When you reach out to others for their input and accountability, you don’t need the mental trash of “I messed up again. I’m sinful. I’m too scared to make this right.” Instead of being YOU focused, it changes you to being GOD focused. “God wants me to be whole, and to honor Him, I need to take care of this wrong. Will you join me in prayer that I could overcome?”

4. Sometimes you accept God’s truth best when it’s spoken by someone else.
Everyone, no matter how idyllic their life, has some amount of personal baggage. When I first attended, I had several wrapped-up hurts, old ghosts, and more than likely a hidden dose of bitterness. Some of it was so ingrained, I wasn’t aware it existed. I didn’t even come expecting to have those things addressed. And then as our group leaders taught, the Holy Spirit used their lectures one by one to expose lies I had been believing. To help me forgive past wrongs. To release the power of old hurts, both self-inflicted and others-inflicted. Every week, I was confronted with a deeper picture of Jesus’ love and grace and truth that I could extend to myself and others. It brought freedom.

5. God’s Word meets you in every single circumstance you are facing.
If you want to know God’s Word is powerful, try studying Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Not much in all those Old Testament laws to apply to modern day, is there? Actually, there is. The themes of Be Free. Be Holy. Be Equipped. Be Ready. Christians in all ages are called to holiness. Christians in all ages struggle with bondage to idols and character flaws. Christians in all ages need to be equipped to fulfill God’s calling. God’s Holy Spirit moved powerfully in our group of over 100 young adults through these books. Lives and hearts were changed, weekly. I had never experienced that before—connecting with God’s Word on a weekly basis. I’d always read it every day, for years—but connecting on a heart level, not just with occasional wow moments, but with weekly God-is-amazing moments, was a new time of wonder. We wanted the hard work that comes with holiness, simply because, how could we choose any other life in the face of a God like that?

6. Fellowship with God is sweeter than anything else I have ever experienced.
If I walked away with one last empty spot, it was the fear that my fellowship with God would be different during the summer, when I was out of BSF. I should have known better. God did a healing, changing work in my life, and He didn’t need weekly meetings to keep it up. I’m just as blessed by this next year of BSF. It’s just as needed. But I walked through a beautiful summer with God equally as good while BSF was out of session. It showed me that ultimately it wasn’t just about the group, which was merely a tool in His hands. It was all about praising Him for what He was doing. This God of the Bible is so powerful. So beautiful. So willing and available to have community with His people. So relentless about calling us to pursue holiness. He’s truthful with the way He uses His Word to wound us, and then gentle with the way He uses that same Word to bind up our wounds. I don’t know how to explain it, other than I met Him in a way I had never met Him before, because I saw Him through His Body. And now, not only is He my holy Savior, but we are simply best of friends. It’s incredibly joyful to wake up every day and face the day, whatever it holds, talking to Him through most of it.

I love BSF for being the hands and words and love of Jesus. It was something I never expected—that in the grace of this particular Christian community, I would find a beyond-imagination communion with the God I had loved since a young age. I always knew He loved me. But He used this group to help me know in a much more secure, heartfelt way.

I am His, and He is mine.

And no matter what happens, that is always enough.

Schuyler McConkey is a novelist and Bright Lights ministry leader living with her parents and two siblings. She authors a blog, My Lady Bibliophile, where she writes book reviews and articles evaluating classic literature. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to Irish love songs, learning Gaelic, and reading too many Dickens novels.

You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, and Twitter.

**You can find out more about Bible Study Fellowship HERE.

Christ Revealed to Moses and Joshua

I read Joshua 1-14 this morning, and in Joshua 5, we have the passage where the Lord appears to Joshua. This passage is very similar to Exodus 3 where God commissions Moses to lead the people of Israel, and in Joshua 5, the Lord appears to Joshua confirming that he is now Moses' successor.

Exodus 3:1-6
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Joshua 5:13-15

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Both these men recognized that they were in the presence of the Almighty God, and interacted with God in a way that showed reverence and respect. Both were commanded to remove their shoes for they were standing on holy ground. God revealed Himself to Moses as I AM, and to Joshua He was the Commander of the Army--the preincarnate Christ revealed to man in all His power. 

And the God who was revealed to these men is the same God who is revealed to us today in His Word, for "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Let us worship Him for who He is. 

Levi Through the Scriptures

I had finished reading the book of Exodus for the fourth time this year, when I put several events together and connected something in my mind.

It's about the tribe of Levi. Now Levi first came around in Genesis when Leah (Jacob's wife) named her third son, but from the 12 sons of Jacob, we get the 12 tribes that exist all throughout Scriptural history. They begin in Genesis and end in Revelation. Levi was a scattered tribe geographically. They had no land to claim as their own, possibly resulting from the violence and bloodshed of Simon and Levi in Genesis, and so the descendents of Levi lived in 48 cities throughout the land of Israel working in the temple when their time came.

But in the beginning of Exodus we read of a husband and wife from the tribe of Levi who had a baby. This baby would be a Levite, too, and as the High Priest would one day intercede for the people before the Lord, so this baby would grow up to be Moses, who led the Israelites and interceded for them on their behalf. Moses' brother, Aaron, would be the first High Priest, and from this tribe would come the priesthood.

Later on in Exodus, Moses is on Mount Sinai receiving instructions from God on how to govern this huge group of people, and he also receives detailed instructions on how to create the tabernacle and priestly clothing, as well as how to fulfill the sacrifical duties. Aaron (a Levite) leads the people waiting below the mountain in forming a golden calf to worship. When Moses (a Levite) returns, he calls those who are on the Lord's side to come stand with him: the sons of Levi gather around him and mete out justice on those who substituted a golden calf for a holy God.

In Numbers 16, it's a Levite, Korah, who leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron--his own tribe members. And he brings about the death of many others who join with him and follow in his disobedience. Then God shows his approval of another Levite by choosing Aaron's staff and causing in to bud--demonstrating that He had chose Aaron as the one to approach God in the priestly duties.

In 1 Chronicles, the Levites are some of the first to settle in Jerusalem again after their exile in Babylon. Under King David, the Levites were the ones who bring the ark of the covenant from Kiriath-jearim back to Jerusalem. Johoshaphat, king of Judah, instructs the Levites to teach the people the law of God in order to bring about a spiritual reformation in the land. The Levites were the tribe to carry out sacrifices and teach the people when good kings ruled the land. They were holy to God.

In Ezra (a priest), it's the priests and Levites (along with others) whose hearts are stirred by God to go and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. And though they rejoiced at the  rebuilding of the foundation, they were also the ones who wept at the sight of it because they remembered the former temple's glory. And they came together later with Nehemiah and Ezra to teach the people the Law.

In Ezekiel, the priest are the ones whom God instructs to serve Him in the sanctuary after His glory fills the temple again. We're also told that the Levites were not faithful to God, but instead forsook Him for idols, therefore the sons of  Zadok (priests), being commended for keeping the Lord's charge and not going astray as the Levites did, are the ones who will enter the sanctuary of the Lord and serve Him there.

The Levites are mentioned many times in the rest of the Old Testament. Many times they are just minor incidents, but they're still there, preserved as part of the remnant of God's people.

In the New Testament, John the Baptist interacts with priests and Levites when Jews sent them to question John about his identity and preaching. And Jesus Himself tells the story of a Levite who was so concerned with his self-righteousness that he wouldn't stop to help his fellow man.

Acts tells us of another Levite who sold a field that belonged to him and gave the money to the apostles. He's better known by his name, Barnabas.

But the Levites and priests knew that the important duties of temple work and the sacrifical system couldn't take away the sin that defiled them. Perfection could never be attained through a human priesthood. Aaron, the first High Priest couldn't perfectly mediate between God and man. And so the Jewish nation waited for the better High Priest who, though He didn't come from the Levite tribe, He was the perfect Mediator. And because He never sinned, His shedding of blood could provide remission for sins. The Levites' and priests' duties had been fulfilled forever. He was the Lamb of God who was chosen of God to be the Sacrifice and the Priest. And as a non-Levitical priest He completely fulfilled all the law as a perfect sacrifice, showing that the old covenant had finished and the new had begun.

He Reigns!

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:13-14)

I read through 1 Corinthians last week, and it was good to get the big picture of the whole book again, as we are going through 1 Corinthians 15 in our church's morning services right now. And though I’m not going to dig deeply into the whole chapter, these verses have often stood out to me when reading through this passage.

They might not seem particularly encouraging at first glance, as they’re written in a “negative” tone. But both verses start with “if”, too. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then preaching Christ and faith in Christ would be senseless. But it’s because of that little word “if”, that these two sentences take on a new meaning.

There is a resurrection of all the dead.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Christ has been raised.
When I [John] saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18)

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:12)

There is a resurrection of all the dead, as Jesus promised, and Christ has indeed been raised, as He said He would be. Therefore, those who preach Christ, preach not in vain. They have staked their lives on the promise that their Savior is risen and that His promises hold true. And those who place their faith in the promise of a risen Christ, don’t believe in vain, for though faith is based on the unseen, faith in the Son of God is a secure faith, an unshakeable faith.

Christ is risen and seated at the right hand of the Father. He lives to intercede for us. He prays for us. He prays that our faith wouldn’t falter. We can have faith in our faith, not because we able to keep faith perfectly, but because there is One who never breaks faith—that same One is our faith. So we must hold fast to that hope without wavering, because the Christ who promised a resurrection is faithful. The King and His Son reign, and we will reign with Him one day!

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Colossians 2:13-15)

We have a resurrection, because Christ triumphed over death by His resurrection. “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15) “Jesus paid the debt you owed, so you could live the life He lived.” (Chris Kouba) Live your faith so that others know that your life is based on the Cornerstone of a heavenly foundation. His resurrection secured your future resurrection.

So read His Word. Live for Him. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians15:58) Not in vain, because He reigns.