The Way of Life – Leah Wilkes
“Suffering will come,” cries Paul from the pages of the New Testament. Trial, affliction, and persecution knock at the door as a way of life, but the comfort of God swiftly follows. “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” As Christians we do not escape sickness, grief or offense. In fact, we are encouraged not to be surprised at the storms of hardship, and all the more to expect our God of comfort who always lifts weary heads above the waves. We should “Count it all joy” in fact when we “meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
The only thing our Father asks of us is a simple but miraculous request. It is the request for us to “be steadfast”. Not to be strong, eloquent or intelligent… just steady. Christ calls for steady belief that He is God, and He will finish His work. The God of comfort merely requires we trust He is there and that He is working all things together for good. A wonderful mentor and friend said something once: “You’re better led than you know.”
So often we try to figure out all the details when it comes to our trials. We attempt to piece together possible reasons and purposes, wondering what God is doing and how it is significant… Alas, we were never asked to put the pieces together, we were simply asked to wait and see. “Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” My what a revelation Job received when God stepped down and displayed His sovereignty.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?”
“Surely you know” oof!
Or KJV “If thou knowest?”
Do not presume to know all the plans and purposes as if you were God Himself. We have no comprehension in our limited minds of how the intricate workings of our lives, paired with those around us, are working together a miraculous and intentional plan that surpasses more than our personal forward “progress.”
There will be times when you may feel “held back“ but instead, like Joseph in the prison, circumstances are being woven together behind the scenes that you never could have anticipated. Joseph was not required to put the pieces together, he was required to be steadfast. It was due to his diligent service in Potiphar’s house and a dungeon that he could walk with confidence into the leadership role pharaoh presented to him, but at the time in those unusual places, he had no idea what would happen next. Yet he remained steadfast…
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
Not only does our steadfastness show itself to be worth it here on earth, but Eternity will proclaim treasures and purposes that we will never know this side of heaven. We walk by faith, not by sight.
“When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” Acts 11:23
God never asked us to drum up a revival, or cause some kind of emotional reaction in his people. He never said create a following or have a well known name. He simply cries out from every corner of His word, “trust Me and be steadfast!”
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Gal 6:9-10
Paul instructed Timothy to be an example of good works, to study the Word and show himself approved therein. Do you long to serve God and have a victorious Christian experience? Then walk in daily trust and faith, consistently seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit. It looks different for different people. There’s no fixed routine or golden hour of intercession. There is simply you and the leading of the Holy Spirit. “How can the Holy Spirit lead me?” you may ask. In any way He wants. You just have to listen. If your heart is yearning the direction of the Spirit, God will speak to you in any number of ways, but primarily through His word. Do you want to know what to do today? Let’s start with what He gave you, the Word of God through 66 books in the Bible. God is not a tease. He will lead you.
Jesus left us with the Comforter, because that guidance was all we would need alongside the gift of the Word of God. My fellow comrade, we are dripping with every provision and equipped with every tool we will ever need. We are only asked to take one step after another. We are asked to be steadfast.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 1 Cor 15:58
Go Ahead and Try – Leah Wilkes
There is a pivotal journey that, when taken, forces you to face the truth that no matter what, you are not hindered from what God has ordained in your life. Regardless of what the enemy, others or even yourself think of your ability, skill or acceptability, you are not “boxed in.”
There is a great variety of processes that can take place in this particular journey. You are faced with your propensity to listen to your spiritual enemy and therefore trained in the art of spiritual warfare. With each crushing blow of the enemy’s piercing reminders of your “limitations” you are schooled in the craft of rebuke. You learn not to consider the serpents suggestions as poor, and inevitably led astray, Eve was. You learn to sing through the weight of darkness until it’s clouds dissipate and peace and rest come in.
It is much the same battle when real people take it upon themselves to assume who you are and what you are capable of. So it was with Joseph, David and even Jesus Himself. This can be a most disheartening place as we learn not to place so much weight in mans opinion or backing. We begin to “faith differently” here and acknowledge that, no matter what people may have to say, you are unlimited and unhindered in Gods will and call. Here you begin to learn that people are not your pathway and their acceptance of you is not what empowers your life. It is in fact the acceptance, anointing and steady defense of your Heavenly Father that will pave and open every path and door, whilst also sifting your very being and exposing the ugly man-pleasing traits you are so prone to.
Then there’s the great battle of YOU. Our own worst enemies we steal away our faith with logic, shame and impatience. We calculate the possibilities and find that our circumstances can’t all add up to what we were promised. We crumble under the heavy weight of past regrets and despair as more of our pitiful and putrid flesh is exposed through the pressures of life. We panic as it seems like time is passing us by and refuse to believe that an intricate God is weaving our circumstances together with a method that is “higher” and more detailed than ours.
We find ourselves crying out to the enemy, mankind and even our own flesh “Don’t box me in! Don’t box me in! Don’t box me in!” We can feel limited on every side and there are moments that we wonder if anyone at all is for us. But the God who sees is sovereign and well aware of how these moments, though hard and wearisome are a crucial part of the process.
It is in the swirling minefield of demonic warfare that we learn of God our defender and master the faith-filled art of wielding spiritual weaponry. The enemy’s taunts find no resting place where there is an overcoming faith. The enemy cannot box in the called of God.
It is in impossibility that we learn and become more acquainted with the God of the impossible. Amidst one thousand limitations He proves Himself to be unhindered. When no man will stand with you,
the Lord our God will not leave your side. Circumstances cannot box Him in.
It is in the breaking, humbling exposure of ourselves that we finally learn our abilities and perfection have nothing to do with Gods purposes. It is when we finally lie down and let God be God that we see the spiritual progress that has been working inwardly for a long season. Our frailty cannot box God in.
So when the enemy’s taunts, man’s opinions or even your own faithlessness attempt to limit God, we can simply respond “go ahead and try.” In simple faith, without effort or ability, we can stare every opposing situation and opinion in the face and walk in peace knowing, no one, not even our own faltering flesh, can box our God in.
“Go ahead and try” path hindering Red Sea.
“Go ahead and try” formidable walls of Jericho
“Go ahead and try” King Saul
“Go ahead and try” intellectual Pharisees
Go on, go ahead and try… I know who my Redeemer is. I know He will finish what He started. I know my Promise Keeper and Great Defender. I know the One who pulls me out of the great depravity of my failings and sets me upon a rock, so go ahead and try… I will not be the one you reckon with, but I will watch my Good Shepherd drive you from His presence and embarrass your attempts at hindering what He has determined will be.
Mountain air – Leah Wilkes
The church is no stranger to the terminology of “valleys and mountains.” Our life is a journey full of unexpected turns and unpredicted valleys. Many of us fight fiercely and pray hard for the mountaintop. That answered promise, open door or long awaited provision… We often wonder if we’ll ever get there. Life can become one waiting season after another…
And yet, the fresh smell of mountain air can be ours in moments. The exhilarating feeling of standing on a mountain peak and seeing the earth and all of life below you like a distant memory is found in a secret place.
Just a few steps away in your closet, office bathroom or in the quiet of nap time… the mountain peak awaits. Our deepest aches are soothed with healing balm here, our hopeless questions are quieted as the refreshing breeze of faith fills our stifled lungs. Here intercessory groanings, that move heaven and earth, rumble through the rock face and move us to places we would have never dreamed. Ministries are borne, chains are broken and the lost are drawn in to the kingdom of heaven, all in a hidden place.
Nothing else has filled me with hope and calm more than lingering in the embrace of my Heavenly Father. No blessing, answered prayer or open door matches the delight of His presence, how can I call anything less than this a mountain top? Oh to stay forever in these moments, where I sense Jesus Himself holding my face and gazing His love in to my soul.
“Nothing compares, nothing comes close to you. No one can know the depths of my soul like you.”
Here we stand, tall and sure, as if on a snowy precipice, completely secluded from the shadows and grueling trials of life. What a treasure, what a blessing, what a mountaintop…
Keep seeking, keep asking, keep knocking my friend. Our God is faithful and true with an intent to bring you deliverance and joy, but be assured, as you wait for answers… you are not forbidden access to the mountain top.
Faith – Leah Wilkes
Jesus was constantly baffling the Pharisees with His seemingly cryptic statements. Even as I’ve been reading the gospels I have found myself thinking “well… of course they didn’t understand that” but the word also says “the pure in heart see God.” It was those who were not obsessed with having to explain everything or didn’t feel the need to defend their choice with intellect that followed Jesus. They purely believed. Their faith, though flawed and shaky, was in the right place, or should I say, person.
Again and again I see this behavior from Jesus. I mean, telling a man “you must be born again” is pretty tough to understand if you’re hearing it for the first time. That’s Jesus’ character. He leaves us asking questions. He doesn’t explain everything, because what he loves and desires is always and only faith.
He didn’t come to explain everything, he came to find faith. He never commended people’s intellect or knowledge, he commended their faith. The Pharisees could have pulled their hair out in frustration because that was everything opposite of what they stood for. Theirs was a proud and wordy religion. Theirs was a religion of intellect and law. One could clearly articulate every facet of their beliefs and describe the many deeds done to perfect their holiness.
But not the followers of Jesus. Theirs was a faith of simplicity and grace. They, a group of flawed, competitive and backward human beings, followed the son of man in pure faith. They were humble enough to ask questions when they didn’t understand, but even when they still couldn’t comprehend it all, they followed, in faith.
I smirk now as I see Jesus constantly throw wrenches in the religious workings of the Pharisees. His was a chain breaking work, against the grain of law and self-made righteousness. Jesus never asks for anything except faith. Never. And He rarely, if ever, explains Himself. Should we expect any different? When life isn’t spelled out and we just don’t see how it all weaves together, smirk a little, this is His way. Have faith that He will finish the work He has begun. The pure in heart see God, and pure faith is all He asks.
What Love Is This – Leah Wilkes
When I am at my worst and fall into a pit of despair, You’re there. When I run from your will as hard as I can, You run faster and catch me up in Your arms. When I turn from Your loving embrace, judging myself too wretched to accept it, You wrap your arms around my back and remind me of Your love’s infinite power. When I insult your grace and think only of my weakness, You don’t cast me aside, but rather, patiently remind me that You will finish the work You have started. When I cry out “I’m done I’m done” You simply reply… “I’m not.”
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.”
Psalm 139:7-12
Your goodness is running after me. Despite my weakness, my doubting and my self-pity, You persist in running towards me with arms filled with affection. You are my God and my Father. You are my tender, thoughtful Jesus. Your presence is filled with warmth and your countenance is a steadfast gaze of love. How can I not love you? How can I not offer You my sacrifice of praise? When I lift my hands up and say “I believe, I believe, I believe” Your presence surrounds me. Oh to be constantly enveloped in Your embrace! I can assuredly say “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!” because You have promised that “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”
Rom 5:8-11
What love is this, that dies for a wretch and keeps loving through constant weakness and frequent doubting? Such love is divine and heavenly, immeasurable and grand. This is the Love of the Father from which there is no hiding. His love responds to prayers such as “Help!” and “Save me!” or my favorite of all, “Dear Lord Jesus…. just hold me.” “Much more” now for his children that call Him Father does he respond with willing affection.
This love is never overpowered by darkness, nay “the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.” When the enemy thinks he has the upper hand and you believe all hope is gone, the Lord smiles with an outstretched hand and seats you at a table in the presence of your very enemies. Those humiliated foes watch helplessly as you feast upon a bountiful provision of everything you have ever needed. The more you fill up with spiritual delights the farther the enemy is made to flee. Oh how he hates to watch as you tightly close your eyes taking one mouthful after another of strength, healing, peace, comfort and joy. Oh how he winces as the oil of gladness dribbles down your chin and you revel in the delights of the Lords table.
“He restoreth my soul” no matter how far it is gone and how frail I have been. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”