RESTING FAITH
BREAD
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him. Psalms 37:7 (NIV)
10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Psalms 46:10-11 (NIV)
13 “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” Zechariah 2:13 (NIV)
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. Matthew 5:1-2 (NIV)
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)
4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. 5 For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Psalms 27:4-5 (NIV)
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. 24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Luke 8:22-25 (NIV)
4 “For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” Deuteronomy 20:4 (NIV)
“Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12 (NIV)
BUTTER
“All we love is in his hands. He hears our prayers and our tears when there are no words. He counts them as liquid intercession, which is precious to him (Ps. 56:8a). He is our Mighty Warrior and contends with those forces that are contending with us (Isa. 42:13; Ps. 35:1).” Sylvia Gunter
“Abide with me: fast falls the eventide; the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around I see. O Lord who changes not, abide with me. I need your presence every passing hour. What but your grace can foil the tempter’s power? Who like yourself my guide and strength can be? Through cloud and sunshine, O abide with me. I fear no foe with you at hand to bless, though ills have weight, and tears their bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where grave, your victory? I triumph still, if you abide with me. Hold now your Word before my closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies. Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee; in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.” Henry Francis Lyte
“If I am going to walk in this present life according to my high calling as a Christian, I need a strength higher than my own strength. I need the power of Christ. How is this power of Christ to be mine? It’s not enough just to imagine that I have this power. It’s not even enough to take the second step and reckon myself dead to sin and alive to Christ. There must also be a communication of the power of Christ to me through the agency of the Holy Spirit who indwells me.” Francis Schaeffer
“Busyness robs us of intimacy with God. It makes us think we are doing something worthwhile, when we are only piling up a bigger pile of wood, hay, and stubble of activities that are not God’s idea. Do you “Martha” around in a hectic blur, getting farther and farther behind? Have you asked yourself, “What did I choose yesterday that cannot be taken away?” What if Jesus had asked Martha that? How would Mary have responded to that question?” Sylvia Gunter
“God often uses the repetitive events and themes in daily life to get my attention and draw me closer to Himself. Now instead of just listening for God’s whisper, I am trying to recognize the sacred echoes – those moments when God speaks the same message to my heart again and again. I call them sacred echoes because I’ve noticed that throughout my relationships, daily life, and study, the same scripturally sound idea or phrase or word will keep reappearing until I can no longer avoid its presence. Is this mere coincidence or is it something more? When it comes to hearing from God, I firmly believe the Bible is our source and authority. God’s Word is like a megaphone to His people. Throughout Scripture God speaks through kings and queens, princes and prophets, poets and pilgrims. He speaks through weather patterns, barnyard animals and even the stars in the sky. God is not only creative, but He is persistent in getting our attention and communicating with us.” Margaret Feinberg
“It costs much to obtain the power of the Spirit: It costs self-surrender and humiliation and a yielding up of our most precious things to God; it costs the perseverance of long waiting, and the faith of strong trust. But when we are really in that power, we shall find this difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.” A J. Gordon
“Dwight L. Moody was fond of pointing out that there are three kinds of faith in Jesus Christ: struggling faith, which is like a man floundering and fearful in deep water; clinging faith, which is like a man hanging to the side of a boat; and resting faith, which finds a man safe inside the boat – strong and secure enough to reach out his hand to help someone else…Only one had discovered he could actually be in the boat – where all he had to do was rest. This is the kind of faith God wants us to have – a faith that trusts Him totally.” Billy Graham
HEART SAVOR
• I am to be still before the Lord – emptying me of me – and allowing the Spirit control of all of me. Therein is strength for the day, rest for the weary, joy for the downtrodden, purpose for the wanderer, direction for the lost and confused, fulfillment for the empty, peace for the brokenhearted and every other promise in the Scriptures written therein. We need only ask and be still and wait for the Lord. Yes, be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
• He is the help for the helpless.
• There is power in His presence.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 