Jehovah Jireh

"Give us today our daily bread." Matthew 6:11

The truth that the Lord will provide for me is probably the one truth my heart has the hardest time believing in. When circumstances arise in my life where I think I won't have what I need, my heart goes immediately into panic and manipulation mode. And it's taken me to evil places in the past.

Thankfully, the Lord is gracious and wants me to have a solid faith in his provision and so he keep pushing that tender place in my heart. Here's the most recent example of that.

Last Friday I took our car into Breaks Plus for an check-up and oil change because we got a coupon in the mail for $25. They first came out to tell me that the breaks were almost at a critical point, that they needed to be changed and that it would cost about $500. I called Eddie and he said that he could take care of the breaks and to just have them do the oil change. And so that's what they did. But then as they were ready to pull the car out of the garage and give it back to me, it wouldn't start and "made a clanking noise" according to the mechanic.

Long story short, after being there for 3.5 hours they determine that the timing chain probably broke and that it was going to be about $600 to fix. After calling Eddie (in tears) he told me to leave the car there for the night and that he would deal with it tomorrow. Eddie and several others were quite suspicious that our car just up and broke while at the mechanic and so he wanted to go in and get the story from them directly.

So on Saturday, Eddie and I went back to Breaks Plus and ended up having the most weird conversation with a guy that worked there who is also a youth pastor at a local church. He was clearly very excited about the Lord and even wanted him and his girlfriend to hang out with us sometime. So though we walked suspicious in ready take our car somewhere else, we left in faith trusting that this guy was genuine and really wanted to take care of us like he said he did.

And the Lord is faithful and does provide. It turns out that they weren't trying to pull a fast one over on us. There really was a problem with our timing chain and it's the Lord's good plan that it broke there. If we had been driving the car while it broke, it could have done serious damage to our engine and we might have been in an accident. Our car was fixed by Monday and they even gave us a huge discount. We are very thankful for our new friend Kevin who was a tool for God's provision in our lives. Our car runs great and is even more safe now than it was before.

Thank you, Jesus, for taking care of us. And thank you for refining my faith.

Being Prepared for Battle - The Shield of Faith

This is the forth of six posts.

Ephesians 6:13-17

The Shield of Faith

"In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;" (v16)

There have been days in my life where I have felt spiritually attacked by Satan all day long. And it sort of feels like Satan is shooting a bunch of flaming darts (or arrows) in my direction with a sinister laugh. Those darts, in my life at least, are Satan's lies. And there are some days when he just likes to rattle them off into my ear without ceasing; he has a whole quiver full of them that he likes to use.

Here are a few of the big ones in my life:

• You are worthless and no one really cares about you.
• You deserve this thing that you want.
• You are amazing!
• God won't forgive that sin.
• You should be ashamed!
• I can't believe you did that. No one else would have done what you did, you sinner!
• Good thing you aren't her.

The list can go on and on. I'm not even sure that there's an end to the lies Satan can tell me. And sometimes it's really hard to not believe them. I think that's why it's the shield of Faith. Because it really takes genuine faith to believe the truth over the lie. I have to be certain of what I do not see (Heb 11:1), because sometimes I just don't see how the truth can be right when the lie looks so real. But the genuine faith that God has given me in Christ, has the power to extinguish any flaming dart Satan shoots at me. Satan is no match against my Shield of Faith because it was created and perfected by God himself (Heb 12:2).

And there are times when I feel like that Shield of Faith is just too heavy for me to lift and I feel bombard by flaming darts. But praise the Lord, that in his grace and mercy, he can and will lift it for me if I just ask it of him.