Liz Blog, Faith, Love Letters

Day 9: I will take you higher | Love Letters

Fa·vor: the state of being approved or held in regard.

[Source]

God’s love for you comes with favor. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are welcomed into the body of Christ. You are part of the family of God: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ESV).

As part of this family, you have an inheritance. You are approved before God, and He holds you in high regard. You have access to Him–on earth and one day in heaven. You have access to His promises for you.

God makes a way when there is no way. When you commit your life to the Lord, you can expect Him to show up when you least expect it.

One of my favorite examples of favor in the Bible is Ruth’s story.

In the book of Ruth, we find that Ruth is living in a time of complete hopelessness–there is famine, corruption, and she experiences the death of her husband. However, Ruth decides to commit herself to God. She states to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “‘Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God’” (Ruth 1:16 NKJV).

When she loses everything, Ruth displays her loyalty to Naomi–but most importantly, she declares her loyalty to God. She wants God to be her God. She knows love for God means obedience. As she’s following Him, she receives favor from Him.

Boaz, a man of God who has great inheritance (wealth), recognizes Ruth because of her love for God, which is again displayed by her actions:

“And Boaz answered and said to her, ‘It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge’” (Ruth 2:11-12 NKJV).

Later on, Boaz blesses Ruth with a large supply of barley to take back to Naomi. Boaz and Ruth eventually get married. The theme in this book is obedience. Ruth is recognized for her obedience to God and rewarded by her obedience to God. She is given favor among men and even given a new life where she now has access to more than what she had before.

I’m sure Ruth didn’t know what was on the other side of her obedience, but she trusted in God anyway. We don’t know what’s on the other side, but if we trust in God and obey His commands, we can have confidence in His blessings.

God can take you higher than where you are now. He will not let your enemies triumph over you. He can promote you. He can give you favor in that job interview. He can provide financial blessings where you are lacking. He can restore broken relationships. He can deliver you from trouble. The key is to honor God–not because you want the rewards but because you want Him.

Remember: Ruth wanted God to be her God.

God sees your heart, and He is near those who draw near to Him. If you have a heart that truly wants to please and live for Him, it will be clear through your actions. You will see His promises for you unravel time and time again throughout your life.

“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16 NKJV)

Love Letter 9

14 days of learning God’s love. Learn about the Love Letters here.

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Liz Blog, Faith, Love Letters

Day 2: You can give Me your burdens | Love Letters

Bur·den:

  1. Something that is carried.
  2. Something that is emotionally difficult to bear; a source of great worry or stress.
  3. A responsibility or duty.

[Source]

You were not made to carry everything. But it’s quite easy to think you’re supposed to.

We live in a DIY culture: Do it yourself. Make it happen. Figure it out. Find a way. Solve the problem. Don’t wait for anyone.

Now. There is some value we can take from these thoughts: Don’t just lean on anything. When the storms come, you discover what is made of substance and what is not. A house set on an unstable foundation is bound to crumble when a natural disaster strikes. A boat built with weak materials will sink when it’s tossed to and fro on the ocean.

We need to stand on something with substance–something that is stable enough to hold us up, to keep us afloat no matter what.

Leaning on yourself can’t do that.

Have you ever been in a situation where you stop and think, Wow. I can’t do this…? Have you tried pulling an all-nighter to meet a deadline only to realize you fell asleep hours in? Have you promised a friend a favor only to realize days later, I can’t believe I forgot to do that!

We get tired, we get faint, we run out of energy. We fail, we break promises, we forget. It’s normal. But it shows how human we are.

You were not made to carry everything.

God provides access to Him because He knows this. We can go to Him freely. God takes joy in talking to you. He loves providing a way for you, opening doors, and seeing you fulfill your purpose. He sees you in your challenges, and He wants to help.

It’s not your duty to carry your burden on your own. Whatever you’re carrying today, give it to the Lord. What does that mean? Go to Him about it. Talk to Him about it like you would talk to a friend. Humans can only do so much.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Love Letter 2.png

14 days of learning God’s love. Learn about the Love Letters here.

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Liz Blog, Faith, Love Letters

Introducing: Love Letters

Do you know your love language? You know, the way you really receive love?

If you’re keen on receiving gifts, and someone brings you flowers, your heart might soar for a while. Or if words of affirmation are your thing, and your friend compliments your new haircut, you might be feeling fly for the next few hours.

In other words, every one of us has a unique way we recognize we’re loved by someone else.

So, when someone communicates this exact way, we feel supported, cared for, and cherished.

However, when someone doesn’t communicate the way we’d like, we can feel forgotten, overlooked, and invisible. Even though it’s not true.

It’s often a matter of someone knowing us well. Ever see a funny joke, and think–wow, so-and-so would die if they saw this!–to yourself? It’s probably because you know that person very well. The better you know people individually, the more you know what they appreciate. But even if we know each other well, we don’t always do the best job of showing our love to each other–or knowing how to.

There is Someone who knows you quite well, better than you can ever know yourself. We may not always feel loved by others, but no matter how many failed or broken attempts at love you’ve witnessed in your life, God cannot fail you in His love.

God loves you. Like actually loves you, and He wants you to recognize His love for you. He knows you inside and out, and He knows what you need. He knows your love language…your deepest needs–even the ones you haven’t uttered.

So, why don’t we always feel this love? It could be a matter of not knowing who He is.

For the next 14 days, I want to challenge you with this: what would happen if every day, you took time out to understand God? To learn how God views you? To learn His love for you? His purpose for you?

How could your life change?

That’s where these Love Letters come in. For the next 14 days, the LizMargaret blog will share a statement from God’s Word itself (not my words) about who God says you are. The Bible, His Word, is His love letter to you.

You deserve love. I know that experiencing true love can change the course of your life. I invite you to join me for the next two weeks to take a closer look at God’s true love for you.

Starting tomorrow (Valentine’s day!), we’re going to embark on a daily journey of truth, discovery, and transformation.

Subscribe to lizmargaret.com to get a Love Letter delivered to you every day for the rest of February!

I look forward to walking along this journey with you!

Read Day 1 ⤏

 

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Liz Blog, Faith

Battling Through Uncertainty

My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.

Psalm 130:6 (KJV)

Without batting an eye, I can tell you the top three most nerve-wrecking moments in college:

  1. The first day of class ever as a freshman…For me, it was a typical scene from a college movie. A gloomy, rainy day, and I walked into the wrong room for French. I survived, and it wasn’t really embarrassing.
  2. When final grades are posted. Even if you know your grade, something about those email notifications are absolutely unsettling. But you learn to just log in, take a look, and breathe.
  3. Starting your paper the day it’s due. There’s no better adrenaline rush than knowing you have 5 1/2 hours to write a research paper on a topic you haven’t actually researched.

These three instances have something in common: UNCERTAINTY. There was no worse feeling in those moments than thinking: What’s about to happen!? I’ve done all I can, and I have no control in this!

Beyond the classroom, uncertainty hits us in other areas of our lives. Our purpose: Am I following God’s will for my life? Our relationships: What if I don’t get married? Am I going to have solid friendships? Our finances: How am I going to pay this bill? How soon am I going to get another job? It can be completely overwhelming. Yes, God promises He will provide for us, but does that mean He will specifically answer a prayer we’ve been requesting for days, weeks, or years?

Continue reading “Battling Through Uncertainty” →

Liz Blog, Faith

The Truth About Praise

O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

(Psalm 98:1-4 KJV)

I look forward to looking back. I love to understand what I’ve learned in the previous months, what God has been doing throughout the whole process and how my faith has changed. One thing that became more apparent to me recently was the significance of praising God.

At the beginning of the summer, I wrote a blog post called “The Choice,” which you can read here. In that blog post, I spoke about the nervousness I felt starting a new internship but how I was deciding to make the choice to trust God through it, even though I didn’t know what the outcome.

What I learned is that through discomfort God often grows us the most.

I can happily say that I’ve had an incredible experience this summer, and I can only attribute that to Him. The funny thing is that I had a positive experience not because it was easy but because I realized that God was pushing me to grow. I realized that God was in the process of opening doors in my life with new opportunities and relationships. Yet if I hadn’t focused on what He was teaching me, I probably wouldn’t be satisfied in the way that I am. I probably wouldn’t have been able to clearly see the ways in which He was moving in my life.

I learned that I wasn’t supposed to simply sit through any initial discomfort and let it pass. Instead I was to lift up God and understand that He was truly working things together for good. I challenged myself to praise God everyday, especially in situations that were daunting. No matter how I was feeling, I wanted to hold onto one true fact: God is good, and because of that, there is hope, and I am taken care of and watched over.

Reflecting on this, I’ve asked myself: What exactly is it that praise does for us?

Praise is such a powerful manifestation of faith.

We are able to acknowledge God’s goodness and authority in our lives. His glory becomes more real to us. Instead of focusing on our challenges and shortcomings, we recognize the truth that He is able. This truth overpowers any hindrances in our lives. Nothing else matters. Nothing is impossible. Because God is good, and this goodness supersedes everything. When we praise God, it is surrender. It is allowing God the space to do everything He needs to do, instead of us fighting against Him in the midst of His work.

Surrender is understanding that we fall short but that God saves us from our weakness and raises us up in strength.

The enemy doesn’t want to see us acknowledging who God is and increasing in faith, so often he attacks us with thoughts of doubt, hopelessness, and despair–these things that gnaw at us from the inside. However, praise is nourishment to our faith.

Proverbs 16:24 says, “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”

When we praise God, we acknowledge who He is, and we believe in His promises. The Bible has so many excellent verses that serve as examples of this in which God is acknowledged for who He is within His promises:

“But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (KJV)

  • We are given the promise that the Lord will protect us from evil things and stabilize us, in light of His faithful character.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)

  • What is incredible about this verse is how God is differentiated from men–unlike our nature to be slack, God is accountable. In fact, He is so loving to us that instead of allowing us to perish, He gives us the opportunity to come to repentance.

“For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” Psalms 33:4-5 (KJV)

  • This verse is similar to the previous one; although the world has fallen, God is so full of truth, love and righteous judgment that He still provides a fallen world with His goodness and mercy–in the form of salvation.

What all these verses have in common is that they display the promises of God that will come to pass–His protection, His goodness, His gift of salvation–and they shed light on who He is: a faithful God, a God who is longsuffering, a God who does things in truth. In a similar fashion, when we praise God, we acknowledge His promises that will come to pass, which we can be confident in because of who He is.

Our eyes open to how God is working in our lives when we praise Him. Praise is a weapon against the enemy’s deception. I once saw a quote that read: “I will see it, when I believe it.” In terms of faith, when we believe God’s goodness–when we decide to come to that understanding and acceptance of what is already true–we will see it in our lives.

You don’t need all the answers to what’s going on. It’s unfortunately in our nature to doubt, to question, to forget what we’ve been delivered from. However, I encourage you to remember that no matter what you’re going through, God is the same, and He is taking care of your burdens.

The first verse in Psalm 98 powerfully reminds us that God has done marvelous things and that He has already claimed victory. As followers of Christ–members of His kingdom–this is victory is for us to claim as well. Don’t allow your emotions to cause you to miss out on what God is doing in your life. Pray and ask God for the faith to trust Him and the ability to surrender everything to Him, and praise Him for all that He has done and continues to do.

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you,in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.  I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

(Psalm 63:1-7 KJV)