It really is difficult to put into words the total awe and amazement all of us in the FAM Fellowship have experienced as we continue to see the Lord’s hand at work in our midst, so I was really caught off guard yesterday when one of our members felt led to post a message warning against discouragement! Naturally, messages against discouragement are always timely and helpful, but I couldn’t believe part of the post that said With so many wonderful miracles and blessings happening in the ministry, it is so easy for others to get discouraged. So many of us have prayed and fasted for countless days, and in the physical it seems as if nothing is happening. So we start wondering why the God we serve is so silent, and we start wondering why are we being kept in the valley, when others seem to be climbing to the mountain top. It is in times like these that the sin of doubt starts creeping into our lives; and we start wondering if restoration will ever come to our marriages. But we must recognize that this is the scheme of the devil, and we must realize that the God we serve is more powerful than the devil or anyone else. As Doreen says, “God’s Word is full of promises and ALL of them are payable upon demand according to the conditions named.”

It really was inconceivable to me that ANYONE in our midst wouldn’t fully rejoice with all that we see going on, and I felt righteous anger rise up in me at the thought that seeing miracles manifesting before our very eyes could cause anyone to be discouraged, especially since we had to address that recently when another marriage was restored a few months ago. Yet, I realized that if this was something someone felt the need to address, it was obviously still a problem to be dealt with, and I’ve been totally amazed to see how strongly and completely the Lord has confirmed that just since yesterday, which is primarily what I want to share in this post (making it quite long), beginning with the response I posted yesterday as follows:

“As I read this, I couldn’t help feeling sad at the thought that anyone would be discouraged by the awesome praise reports and miracles we’re seeing in the lives of our members, because God assures us that what He does for one, He WILL do for all. So there is no reason to be discouraged. In fact, there’s a whole lot more reason to be encouraged, and we all need to see what we can learn from those among us who are experiencing the breakthroughs we all long for. And as I’ve stated many times before, it is by no means just a coincidence that the ones we see the Lord blessing so much are the same ones who NEVER miss an opportunity to give the Lord praise for ANYTHING, or to consistently ENCOURAGE others with their words and prayers. Jesus made it very clear in several parables that if we can’t be trusted with little; He isn’t going to give us more. In fact, He even taught that the little we had would be taken from us if we didn’t use it for the glory of God and the furtherance of His kingdom. And feeling discouraged indicates some of the negative emotions I hoped were exorcised when some of our members acknowledged being unable to fully and completely rejoice when Rosalie’s marriage was restored.

And while it is so true that we have to trust and believe the Lord will do exactly what He says He will do, as yesterday’s SOF post said, our faith has to go beyond simple belief, because we have to have CONFIDENCE that God CAN and WILL restore our marriages…simply because He hates divorce and for the glory of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ! When we really have confidence in that, and see others realizing their hearts desire, we will recognize that as PROOF that God DOES keep His Word, and we won’t be discouraged, because we’ll be extremely encouraged by the hope and expectation that we might be next! And there’s something VERY important to remember about the quote from Pastor Doreen, in which she said “God’s Word is full of promises and ALL of them are payable upon demand according to the conditions named.” And that’s “according to the conditions named! So when we don’t feel that God is delivering on His promises, instead of doubting God, we need to examine ourselves, because the problem is not God, or His unwillingness or inability to give us the desires of our hearts. More than likely, the problem is with us. It could be a matter of something in our hearts that is displeasing to God, which prevents Him from answering our prayers; such as unforgiveness, bitterness, malice, jealousy, pride, self-righteousness, and a long list of other things. It might be a matter of our failure to DO what His Word teaches us to do. It might be our failure to acknowledge Him in ALL our ways, or a failure to love Him with ALL of our hearts, minds, souls and strength. It could be our failure to love others as we love ourselves, or failure to serve and minister to others. It could be a matter of NOT seeking first HIS kingdom and His righteousness, and asking with wrong motives, seeking our own pleasure over the glory of God. And it could even be our own failure to give God the praise, honor and glory for the things He does for us every day, because we have NOT demonstrated our trustworthiness to use the powerful testimonies we seek. Ephesians 1 makes it VERY clear that God does EVERYTHING for the glory of Jesus Christ, and when He blesses us by the power of His hand and we don’t give Him the glory for that, we clearly can NOT be trusted to glorify Him with more, so we shouldn’t expect more, and we should beware that He might well even take those little blessings and breakthroughs from us, as we see in The Parable of the Talents, in Matthew 25:14-30 )passage omitted).

So I’d encourage anyone feeling in any way discouraged by the awesome work we’ve seen the lord doing in our midst to pray Psalm 139:23-24, which says Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. The Lord really dealt with me concerning that a couple of years ago, and when I started praying that prayer, I didn’t like the results, because the Lord was ever so faithful to reveal a LOT of yuk still left in me. But the END result led to a much closer walk with Him and a much more victorious life in Christ! And that’s really what we all seek, and there’s no good reason NOT to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and ask Him to reveal anything in our own lives that might be displeasing or offensive to Him. And when we do, we will truly be blessed and encouraged, because God will be faithful to lift us up in due time!”

While I was writing the above response, Diane called to share the news of her restoration, which was the best possible antidote against any form of discouragement taking root in our midst, as evidenced by yesterday’s SOF post! And Diane followed up my response to the post about discouragement as follows, along with some of the responses by other members:

Response by Diane on May 22nd, 2007 at 3:19 pm
We should never be discouraged, because God says we are to rejoice with others and cry with others. Let us all remember this is about Gods glory and He gets no glory for divorce and broken families. He is working this all out for all of us, and it will be done in His perfect timing and in His perfect way. I used to think a “suddenly” would be great, but God had a better plan. If I got a suddenly a while back, I wouldn’t have been ready and God knew it. He has been giving me my husband’s heart back a little at a time and now I know that I am ready for my marriage and to be the wife God intended me to be. When we are not ready, God knows and He refines and molds us to get us ready. That is why we need to listen to His words and be obedient. I see that our family needed time to adjust to my husband being around too. God truly does know what He is doing and He will make the pieces fit perfectly. Stay encouraged everyone, and praise, praise and praise; and give God all the glory He deserves. Remember, even cleaning up after our spouses is a praise; and every phone call, even if nothing good seems to be said; God is working, and hearts are softening. So I suggest we all write a list of all that God has done in our lives and give HIM praise. We may be surprised to see the things we forgot HE has done for us. Thank you, Lord, for all the mountains You are moving in the lives of this fellowship family! We think you are awesome! Our God is in control of it all! Be blessed Diane

Response by Diane on May 22nd, 2007 at 3:45 pm
Something the Lord just placed on my heart when I was done posting, was that we seem to keep going around the same mountain when we complain and grumble about circumstances in our lives. When I found myself being discouraged, I looked at what I was doing differently. And I found that as soon as I looked at circumstances, instead of Jesus and all He has done for me, Satan got an opening to come through to poke me. Having faith means faith in the unseen. We don’t know what God is busy doing in our spouses’ lives, and through the fire, we are being refined. God needs to work on US first, and when I look at myself now, I am nothing like I was and that is all Jesus. That is what God needs to do; change us and get us ready to be the spouses He intended us to be. We all want a great marriage, and not just what we had before, but all that God intended marriage to be. So we have to stay encouraged and keep our eyes off circumstances and on Jesus. It is God’s will that will be done, and we all know that it is God’s will for restoration. Be blessed and encouraged, Diane

Response by Thursa on May 22nd, 2007 at 3:51 pm
AMEN!!!! I was always told to “look for the positive in everything.” And I have refined that for myself the last year and truly do “look for GOD in everything!” God is SOOO awesome. When you stand back and just really look at all He does for us, it is just…AWESOME!!! Dan did a great job of giving us all a wonderful example of how to just take a situation and see how much GOD is there! We should all do that, every chance we can! And when we say our prayers at the end of the day, we should just think about and acknowledge ALL of the things God has given us and PRAISE HIM! HE LISTENS and He will bless us with more and more. The parable of the talents is His EXACT instructions on how and why to do this!!! Don’t be afraid to post anything at all! Don’t bury your praise in the soil and not let it GROW!!! Our purpose is for God’s glory and when we are praising Him and letting His glory shine through us, He is pleased!!!

I AM encouraged and I thank you all for never letting me forget to keep looking for God in ALL things!!!

Response by Linda Wattu on May 22nd, 2007 at 4:14 pm
Thursa, thanks again! You put it best and in perfectly simple words…LOOK FOR GOD IN EVERYTHING!!! Because when we are looking for God, ALL we can see is GOOD!!! Way to go, Girl!

Then I was totally blown away early this morning when I read Marsha Burns’ Small Straws message, because it says:
May 23, 2007: Beloved Bride, I have admonished you to give thanks and rejoice to prepare the way for a continued flow of blessings. And, I have heard the first smattering of your obedience. Yet, there are still many who have not taken My word seriously and have even continued to complain and grumble. Your choice in this matter will take you on one of two paths. The path of obedience leads to being blessed, and the path of disobedience leads to being cursed. Choose wisely.
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
She certainly managed to make the point a lot more forcefully with a lot fewer words!

Then today, Thursa shared the following message on the private site, which was also perfectly timed to address the issue of discouragement. So here’s her message and my response:

Growing Roots

I received this as an email from a friend, and it’s a great illustration that’s applicable to us all as we see things happening differently among our members. So I thought I’d share it!

“One day, I decided to quit. I wanted to quit my job to quit my relationships, to quit my spirituality; I even wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.

“God”, I said, “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?” His
answer surprised me.

“Look around”, He said, “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”

“Yes”, I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.”

“In the second year the fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And
again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.”

“In the third year there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.”

“In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed.
Still, I would not quit.”

“Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant. But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years
growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge they could not handle,” He said to me.

“Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots? I would not quit on the bamboo and I will never quit on you! Don’t compare yourself to others. The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern.
Yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come,”
God said to me. “You will rise high.”

“How high should I rise?” I asked.

“How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.

“As high as it can?” I questioned.

“Yes”, He said, “Give Me glory by rising as high as you can. And remember…I will never leave you, nor forsake you. I will never give up on you. I will never, ever quit on you.”

Everyone has days when they want to “quit”. When there are
struggles…obstacles in life, remember we’re just growing roots!!
God has a purpose in mind for each one of us and we need to talk to Him and let Him help us realize that purpose.

Always remember, He’ll never leave us, He’ll never forsake us, and
He’ll never quit on us.

Response by Linda Wattu on May 23rd, 2007 at 11:25 am
Thursa, thanks for sharing this awesome message! It goes along perfectly with today’s SOF post too, which is about discouragement! We certainly can NOT afford to allow discouragement or grumbling and complaining to take root in our midst, because it would definitely hinder the powerful flow of the Holy Spirit we’ve witnessed in the past month or so, and I know NONE of us will stand for that! So let’s all stay focused on being rooted in the Word of God and discard everything else, so we can experience the promise of Psalm 1:2-3, which says Butt his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. And it is by no means a coincidence that today’s message from Marsha Burns also confirms the SOF post message I already had planned for today! And these are words we all had better take heed to, and realize the importance of, because if anyone in our midst proves them, it is Diane! (Small Straws message omitted)

And then, pulling it all together as she so often does, Alex posted the following Heart To Heart message on the ladies’ private website today too:

Having Faith and Confidence in the Grace of God

“Faith is vital to our stand, it is what deflects the fiery darts of discouragement. In the past, I suffered unnecessarily because I was frequently trapped under spirits of condemnation and legalistic thinking. It was so easy to believe that if I had gotten in the flesh, I had somehow “undone” all of the work that God was doing for my marriage. (Pride was at work there too, as you can see by my thinking.) But Hebrews 2:2 says, “for if the message spoken by angels (the Mosiac law) was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” We think of salvation as just the saving of our souls, but it is much more. Salvation is described as the act of rescuing; the act of preserving from destruction. God does so much more for us on this earth than just save our souls. One of the best ways to resist the devil is to understand how God sees us, which is described in the same chapter in verses 14-16, “Since the children have flesh and blood, Christ too shared in their humanity so that by his death, he might DESTROY him who holds the power over death, that is the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery for their fear…” Discouragement has its roots in fear. And fear takes hold when we are not bringing our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ and the Word. Fear takes hold when we believe anything or anyone other than God. We’re all familiar with the verse, “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) And when we gain knowledge of the character and promises of God, as found in his Word, then knowledge of His perfect love really does cast out fear. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God addresses the issue of fear again and again. Why? Because he knows that fear is the opposite of faith and that we need faith to gain the promise, just as Abraham did. Hebrews 3 tells us to “fix your thoughts on Jesus…” When we feed our fear by looking at our circumstances rather than on God, anger finds a foothold. It is so important then that we guard ourselves so that we do not develop unbelieving hearts that turn away from God. Hebrews 3:13 charges us to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” That’s what’s so wonderful about sharing our praise reports, our personal journeys and our restoration testimonies in this fellowship. In doing so, we “hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6) Diane’s testimony is not just for her; it’s for everyone in this fellowship. Let’s allow ourselves to see her testimony as God speaking to us, and affirming his will and desire to do the exact same thing for us. It is His voice that speaks through her testimony, and Hebrews 3:15 tells us, “Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

As I was reading Hebrews, God showed me very clearly that my marriage could have been restored two years after I became a stander. Scott and I had our “suddenly”, but it frightened us. Instead of trusting God, we believed Satan’s lie that it was too good to be true. As a result, I delayed my own restoration by another four years. Chapter 3 of Hebrews goes on to describe what happened to those Israelites who, when the Promised Land was spied out, refused to believe that they could enter. And they didn’t enter. Even if you’ve gone around the mountain of marriage restoration many times, you still have hope. “Therefore since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none have been found to have fallen short of it. For we have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them because they did not combine it with faith.” It also says “Therefore God set again a certain day, calling it today…” (Hebrews 4:1-3) Every day can be our “Today”.

Father, fill each one of us with the faith needed to inherit your promises. Reveal yourself to us so that our knowledge of you will not be lacking. Bless us by allowing us to see ourselves and each other as you see us, made righteous by your grace through Christ’s work of atonement. Restore our confidence in your plans for each of us and let the praises shared here bring health and hope and encouragement to all here. Let us approach your throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

And IF anyone is still struggling with doubt, discouragement or fear, just listen to Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcast messages from yesterday and today about Confidence and Getting out of the Boat, and you’re bound to be blessed and ENCOURAGED, especially if you’ll just REFUSE to entertain doubt, discouragement and fear!

Posted Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 at 11:42 pm in Seeds Of Faith.