Faith, Not Works

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Lesson 8 of Heart of a Woman was such an encouragement to me! It helped me to comprehend just what “Faith apart from works is dead” means. I didn’t understand just how wrong I was looking at this all. My goodness, I didn’t realize just how much of my thinking was truly geared towards earning favor by works. Especially if I added my faith to these works, I know I must be doing right! God will absolutely “bless” this. (This was my thinking for a long time). When I realized that we would be discussing this Scripture I was kind of dreading it. It was a topic I could never understand fully because it was hard to break my thinking free from what I have “known” for years. (Trying to do this in my strength never helped).

I began to pray that during this lesson the Lord would give me such clarity regarding this. I saw just how religious and legalistic my thinking had been. I was hungry for the truth about how my faith and works collide in my relationship with Christ. I found so much joy in reading about Moses and Joshua, and how it was faith in God and in His power “not in their own ability, not in their own ways, and not in their own righteousness–that these men carried out God’s plan for their lives….”

The Holy Spirit revealed just how much I was trying to control and place my hands on God’s plan for my life. I never knew just how little I asked Him to have His way with my life. Maybe I thought that He couldn’t work in me until I fixed my own sin (WRONG), or maybe I wasn’t doing something right. I would try to do every good thing and incorporate my faith in everything so God would know that my faith was not “dead.” If I said a bad word, got angry with someone, or thought out of line, then I would have to start all over again in order to please Him. How exhausting that is! Even discouraging at times.

I love when Lesson 8 goes on to say: “In that hour of need when we are feeling overcome by our feelings or our circumstances, when you feel anger, or pain, remember that it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives within you. Your flesh no longer has power to control you. It may feel like it does, but it’s just an illusion. In the midst of that hour, all you see is your fear, your anger, or your frustration; you may not be able to see Christ in you at all. You may not be able to feel Christ in you at all. But faith is in the unseen! So believe in what you cannot ‘see’…”

I just had to share because I am so thankful to have this clarity. I am so grateful that I understand nothing in my human capabilities can do anything to save me. Christ paid my ransom! He paid the debt I owed for my sin. That is so amazing! We can all take a breath now. I mean let me tell you, I am by no means even close to being perfect! But it is great to know that there is no one to impress. My focus should be on showing my love to Christ through obedience to the Word of God.

I don’t want to just say, “Jesus, I believe” with this mouth, but I want the fruit that I bear to be evidence of this faith. I now understand that it is not my works that will save me, but His saving grace. The works will just be evidence of this change in my heart. By my works I am not redeemed! I can’t express this enough. I struggled for so long with this concept! I am redeemed and the works will just be evidence that you can see of my genuine belief in Christ Jesus. I love this Scripture and now I can understand and rejoice in it: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

My prayer is that from this moment on He would take control of my life! As we continue in this study, may our hearts be drastically and forever transformed by our faith in Christ Jesus. I am going to commit to memory the following Scripture. In times when I feel that I am failing, I will repeat this to myself: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:26-27). I will remind myself that He lives in me. I am walking around with Christ on the inside; this alone makes me want to think about everything I say, do, and set my thoughts upon. Just think! The same power the rose Christ from the grave is the same power that has taken up permanent residence in your heart. Be strong in the Lord, and diligent in this heart work. Let God have His way, and be encouraged. I can’t wait to see what He has in store.

All for His Glory

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Resting in the Promise of Healing

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More than likely at some point in your life, you have become aware of something in your life that you needed to do something about. Maybe you went to the doctor because of a nagging pain in your knee. Maybe you pursued a new job because your previous one was not rewarding. Maybe you have ignored an issue that really needs to be addressed with your spouse.

This Heart of a Woman study has shown me that we all have sin in our life that we need to do something about. Throughout this study, as we have identified our sinful thoughts, attitudes, and actions, I finally had to straight up confess something I have known but not addressed: that I am disrespectful and unpleasant to my husband. I speak to him unkindly. I’ve prioritized my needs over his. It has been humbling to write down “unloving” as one of my sins repeatedly through this study; even more so to confess it. Out loud.

God has been working on me in this area since I started with Thistlebend 2 ½ years ago. I have been convicted of my selfishness over and over. I’ve held countless internal dialogues about what I should say to my husband. But progress doesn’t come from dialogues that only happen in your mind.

I cried out to God to help me, to help my husband and me talk. And God answered. He led my husband and me to a place where, fear or no fear of communication, we had to talk.

If you were to ask me how I have changed since beginning Thistlebend studies, I would say I’ve changed in many ways. My faith is stronger. I better understand what it means to work out my salvation with fear and trembling. I know the Lord in a deeper way. I long to follow Him. I see the Lord at work in my life in a much clearer way. I am more aware of my sin but also more aware of God’s grace.

I believed that many of those changes were evident to those closest to me. But my husband burst that bubble. He told me he has seen no change, not towards him.

I was convicted to my core. I felt grieved because true heart change should be visible to the person who sees me at my best and my worst and everything in between. So I did all I knew to do: I confessed to my husband that I had been disrespectful, that I had not honored him as my husband. And I confessed to God how sorry I was that I had not been grateful for the loving husband He had granted me.

I felt wretched. I felt hypocritical.

BUT, because of this study and the systematic way we have identified sinful fruit and how to replace it with righteous fruit, because I have been confessing my sin to my sweet sisters in Christ, because I have been lifted up in prayer, because I have been instructed on how to find Scripture to address my sin, and most importantly, because I know I am redeemed and rescued by Christ my Savior…because of all that, I did not feel defeated. I did not feel afraid. I knew God could change my heart.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16, emphasis added).

I am resting in the promise of healing, and relying on God’s strength to uproot the deepest sin in my heart.

Growing in Grace

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Standing with God by Faith

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I’m not afraid to say the name Jesus! Why would I be afraid to say the name Jesus? Fear, that is the only reason why. Fear of what man will think.

My husband and I went to see God’s not Dead 2 and it brought out so many thoughts and questions. I won’t ruin the movie for anyone but it shows a realistic picture of the world today. Faith is on trial and it is our job as Christians to choose to stand with God. It sounds simple to stand with God but if you were on trial and could lose your job, would you still stand with God? Would you believe that God has a plan?

God does have a plan and it is working now. Our faith is being tested at every turn and He is asking us to stand with Him. To have faith. The hardest thing I have read from a friend on Facebook was that God is an imaginary friend to Christians. My heart pounded and my blood boiled. God is not in my imagination. He lives inside me. He lives inside all of us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus was flesh and bone and He was crucified for me. He was crucified for all of us even the girl who said He is imaginary. He rose again that we may walk with Him, that we may stand with Him!

What does it take for her to go from calling Him imaginary to the Lord being the King of her heart? It takes what it took for all of us to believe…faith. It is only through faith that we are able to walk with our Lord! Faith gives us the hope for salvation! Faith gives us our love for God! Faith gives us the strength to choose our Lord! Faith allows us to follow Him completely!

Choosing Him takes strength, the power of God. He is all power and our flesh is all fear. We have nothing to be afraid of if we have God in our heart. He can win any battle if only we have faith. He is Lord over all. I will choose to stand with God and be judged by the world rather than stand with the world and be judged by God. Who else will choose faith over fear?

Showered in His Love

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