We have received…the Spirit who is from God, that we might
know the things that have been freely given to us by God. —1 Corinthians 2:12
“My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption
is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out
through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me
beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. […] My
experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth—
Jesus Christ.[…] Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of
talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not
faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.”
CHAMBERS
Martie and I have served in some difficult places between
2005 and 2015. During that time we have
seen God do some amazing things through and around us. It is easy to be drawn to the experiences and
look for more experiences as if they were “fuel” our faith. But it is in the
day to day simple experiences of life where your faith is wrought. It is easy to trust God on the mountain top. Not so much in the valley. When we are in the valley we tend to focus on
ourselves and our plight. On the
mountain, we focus on the God and His glory.
It’s natural to want to pick the latter over the former. Who wouldn’t.
But our spiritual nature and our faith are tried, tested, and
strengthened in the valley. It is there
that we learn about God’s sufficiency and His faithfulness. We should appreciate those mountaintops but
we should not desire to live there. (Mark 9:2-9) We have been called to the
valleys … where the lost souls live. Your
life is not your own. Your testimony is not about how you reveled on the
mountain in the presence of God, but how you persevered in the valley by your
faith in God. ELGIN
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