Can you take a punch?

Just the other day, my brother and I were talking about our prayer walk and how when you first start out with the Lord, everything seems easy.  You pray, He Answers...BOOM, it's Done!  It galvanizes your prayer walk and you can't wait to pray again!
Then as more time goes by and you pray, it seems as though the LORD answers back and says things like, "umm, you need to get that right first."  So we repent, and as soon as we get our heart right, we see the manifestation.
Then more time elapses, and as you pray, you hear....NOTHING!  You feel....NOTHING!  So you get before God and check your heart and wait to hear if there is some area that needs adjusted and you wait.  You wait. You wait and Y.O.U.W.A.I.T.
Then you start to question.  "Daddy God, is everything all right?"  Did I do something I'm not supposed to be doing?  "Can you hear me Lord?" 
Crickets are chirping and your heart is falling flat and you feel as if you are drifting alone in this wilderness called life.

I likened it to a boxer learning the ropes.  Now, I don't know much about boxing, only what I've seen in the movies but it's enough to illustrate my point.  The boxer doesn't start in the ring, he starts his training on a bag...it doesn't hit back.  Then he graduates to a sparring partner, who hits back, but the boxer has on a helmet so the hits sting but don't usually take him out.  He learns to take a punch before he finally steps in the ring with an opponent and the pads are off and he is on his own.  His trainer is in the corner yelling out encouragement and will be there to fix his cuts and send him back into the fight. And finally, if he trained hard enough, he will be the last one standing when that final bell dings.

Our faith walk is like a prize fight.  We have the Holy Ghost in our corner, but we are in the ring by ourselves and the enemy is going to be throwing his best combinations at us to take us out.  The best fighters seem to be the ones with a plan.  They don't swing aimlessly and wear themselves out.  They are meticulous in their punches.  Sometimes, they even take a few because they know that this will wear their opponent out. The best fighters seem to know when to duck and when to cover themselves under the protection of their gloves. The best fighters also believe that they will be the one still standing, regardless of what they see coming at them.  That is what Faith is according to Hebrews 11:1 NLT

Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

Walking things out in Faith is not for the faint-hearted.  I always laugh when I hear non-believers refer to being a Christian as a crutch, like it's a bad thing.  Years ago, I broke my leg badly and believe me when I tell you, that crutch was a life-line.  It was hard at first; but eventually I got the hang of it and I was grateful for it.  Trust me when I tell you that when something is broken in your life, you lean on your Faith with all your strength and you rejoice that you have something that holds you up so that you don't end up flat on your face, more injured than you were before.  Paul explains it well in 2 Corinthians 12:9 NLT:

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

When I am weak in my own ability, I lean on my Faith in God and I use it to carry me through until I am strengthened and I can make it to the next mark in my journey. Because my friend, life is about the journey and we are to continue to keep pressing forward, despite the pain, despite the loss and as we continue each leg of the journey we celebrate the small victories because in reality, there are no small victories in Christ.

I love this time of the year! It enables me to reflect on what our Lord accomplished for us.  He began this week with a triumphal entry into Jerusalem with shouts of "HOSANNA" ringing in his ears and he ended it lying buried in a borrowed tomb, after suffering the death of a criminal.  To the world, he had failed miserably. He had been abandoned, by all but a few.  I don't know about you, but I can relate to his sorrow.  I have failed.  I have been abandoned.

However, we know now that it was NOT over.  The best was yet to come! On the first day of the new week, the Earth trembled, the stone rolled away and Jesus conquered Death, Hell and the Grave!

He did it for me.  He did it for you. He did it for all.  I remember hearing years ago, a song by Carman called, The Champion.  It had a huge impact on me.  (If you have never heard it, click on the link.)  By the end of it, you will be cheering and declaring the Victory won by the Champion of the Ages...

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” I Corinthians 15:54-55 NLT

Faith in the midst of Failure

I had a dream last night that I was sitting around a table with my mom, hubby, and a former Pastor. He was sharing with us about how his current endeavor was failing terribly and all I could say is ...:"I know, we have been there,..."  I woke up before I could say any more and as I went about my morning routine, the Holy Spirit spoke something to my heart that stopped me in my tracks!  He said, "I lose more of my people in failure than success."

Whoa, news flash!

Immediately my thoughts turned to two examples in the Word...Peter and Judas.  The only difference between them was that when they both failed Jesus, one ran TO Him and the other ran FROM Him.

In Luke 24:12 The Voice, we read:

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he reached the opening, he bent down, looked inside, and saw the linen burial cloths lying there. But the body was gone. He walked away, full of wonder about what had happened.

Peter was full of wonder and we know that he went on to be a man of such great faith that he died the death of a martyr.  However, Judas' story had a much different ending, in Matthew 27:3,5 The Voice:

Judas—the one who had betrayed Him with a kiss for 30 pieces of silver—saw that Jesus had been condemned, and suddenly Judas regretted what he had done. He took the silver back to the chief priests and elders and tried to return it to them....Judas threw down the money in the temple, went off, and hanged himself.

Believe me when I tell you, I know what it means to fail.  I recently had a Birthday and it caused me to look back over my life.

What I found was that there were many times that I knew I should have done things differently, but I did it wrong anyway. In those times I threw myself on the mercy of God and repented and happily went on knowing I was forgiven and it was forgotten.

However, there have been times when I did everything RIGHT and yet, I appeared to have failed in every way. 

Now, let's be real, those times are the hardest! It was also when my faith seemed to falter the most.

I racked my brain and tried to determine how did it go so wrong???  I tried to determine what I would have done differently and came up empty because there were no answers.  I felt so defeated that I didn't want to pray anymore and every time I picked up the Word, I could feel the weight of my failure.  You may be asking, "What do you do during those times?"

I have learned that you continue to do what you know to do, even when it hurts.  You get right back in the seat and you try again.

My littlest nephew also just had a Birthday and he received a bicycle...a real one with pedals!  He was s-o-o-o excited to jump up on it and GO!  We even have a picture of him on it, beaming ear-to-ear!

However, he is a little guy and he doesn't have any experience with pedal pushing.  Later on, when he couldn't make it go, he jumped off and ran over to me.  With tears in his big blue eyes he said, "Tata, I will never ride this bicycle again, just take it out to the dumpster!" 

A bit dramatic, I know!  I explained to him that he is growing and reminded him that he's never used this kind of bike before.  Also, it's not the right time to learn since there is 2 ft of snow on the ground right now.  I told him we will put the bike away and pull it out when it gets warmer and then we will teach him what he needs to know to be successful. 

AHA!  A light just went off in my spirit...failure teaches us.  It's a painful and necessary part of life and the biggest lesson it teaches us is that we need to keep getting on the bike instead of running away from it. 

I remember my first time of learning to ride a bike without training wheels...I wrecked BIG TIME!  I didn't have firm control of the handle bars and they skewed left, right into my chest!  It knocked the wind right out of my lungs and I ended up in the ditch. 

It hurt terribly and I cried very hard, but you know what?  After I dried my tears, I got up, dusted myself off and got back on the bike.  Now mind you, it was a big blue bike in a much older style and it was not really cool at all!

However, I learned how to master 'ole Big blue that summer and for Christmas that year I got my DREAM BIKE...The Cactus Flower. 
It was a white bike with yellow and orange flowers with a bright yellow "banana" seat and high handle bars!
You know what....it was s-o-o-o worth the pain!  The freedom I felt when I jumped on it for the first time and took off around the block with the wind in my hair and the biggest smile on my face was priceless!  The pain of the past failures firmly where they belong....in the past! 
Did I ever wreck the Cactus Flower?  You bet, but I would just get back on and go at it again .  This is what we all need to do in the face of failure:
Dry our tears.
Dust ourselves off.
Get back in the seat.

and GO!