by Live Original | May 18, 2018 | Life Advice |
I read a book recently that focused on David’s process to becoming a king, and something that stood out to me was the fact that with every step he took, every moment of obedience, every ounce of brokenness, and every song he wrote, he was a prophetic symbol of a Savior who would one day come to save us. We know the story: David begins his journey as a shepherd boy, worshiping his God and watching over his flock of sheep in his father’s fields—the fields where he would spend his early years. The fields became his “waiting room” of destiny—Heaven’s training ground—which would shape and sharpen him to one day be called a “man after God’s own heart.”
Every morning when he went to the fields, David took with him two possessions: a lyre and a slingshot. I’ve known this part of the story for years, but as I read a few weeks ago, the words jumped off the page and into my spirit. I understood that David’s daily companions were not just things to help pass the time or keep his flock in check—they were an instrument of praise and a weapon of war. I think about David getting up each morning and feeling the hand of God shaping, molding, and developing him for greatness. Or did he feel that? I wonder if David ever had an inkling, as he picked up his weapon and his instrument, that what was he was carrying was not only for himself but also for generations to come.
I like to imagine that David started each day with a little poem: “My worship paves the way for my weapon to slay.”
David had a choice to serve his father each day. David had a choice when his brothers were given the call to fight in battle, when he was told, “No, you’re too young.” David had a choice when he arrived at the army’s tents with food for his brothers, only to find Goliath mocking and threatening to destroy them all. David had a choice when his brothers ridiculed him as he tried to convince them he was the one who could slay this Philistine. David had a choice when King Saul, his leader, became jealous of him and possessed of an evil spirit. David had a choice when spears were thrown in his direction and isolation fast became his only friend. Just like you and me, David was faced with a question, an opportunity, and a choice every day.
He had to have developed a great level of understanding while watching over his father’s sheep. He had to have known that God was pressing him into a place of trust because of what would one day be entrusted to him. He had to have pushed himself into a place of strength training and fear-removing moments so that nothing of himself was left. He must have stood in those fields, releasing the sounds of Heaven, and tuning his ear to the sound of his Creator’s voice. And even as young as he was, he had to have chosen to live in a place of peace, knowing that somehow God was writing a story that would change the course of history.
You’re probably reading all of this and wondering—where is she going with this? How does the story of David apply to me? How does my place in life have anything to do with a shepherd boy?
I write this blog post because I want you to understand this truth: We’ve all been given a training ground—a “waiting room.” We have all been put in this race called “Life,” we’ve been handed a course map entitled “Trust,” and we’ve all been assigned hills and valleys labeled “Opposition” and “Discouragement.”
The question we must ask ourselves is, “What WEAPON and what INSTRUMENT do I hold in my hands?”
Will we take with us joy unspeakable, peace that surpasses all understanding, and determination that nothing can stand in our way? Or will we be bogged down with fear, self-doubt, and frustration?
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…”
Psalm 149:6 says, “God’s high and holy praises fill their mouths, for their shouted praises are their weapons of war!”
Our PRAISE is our WEAPON to combat and conquer anything and everything that the enemy would throw at us. God designed it that way. The Word is filled with examples of people—ordinary people just like you and me—overcoming dire and desperate circumstances just through the sound of their praise and worship. Paul. Silas. Jehoshaphat. And those are just three examples off the top of my head as I type! David said in Psalm 34, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” It’s the way we overcome.
The life of David also gives us an example of what can happen when we lay down our weapons or forget—even temporarily—who we are in Him.
2 Samuel 11 gives us the story of David and Bathsheba, and it opens this way: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.” You see, the whole saga of Bathsheba, her husband, adultery and murder would never have even happened if David had been in his rightful place where he belonged. You know what happens. It’s such a clear picture of what can happen when we choose to set aside our weaponry and live below our place of authority in God.
In Ephesians 6, Paul describes our battle armor for spiritual warfare. “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful…”
I love to point out the fact that there is no armor for the back. That’s because we don’t retreat—run away—from the enemy! “Having done all to stand,” we STAND in His authority, using our God-given weaponry and wielding our instrument for praise, declaring who we are in Him!
Speak this over yourself today: “My worship paves the way for my weapon to slay!”
by Live Original | May 16, 2018 | Life Advice |
Are you feeling weary, burdened or overwhelmed today? Take a deep breath. God sees you. We all have moments in our lives that try to overtake us, but the truth is, they don’t deserve that kind of power! The best way to fight worry is to dive straight into scripture for encouragement and peace. Here are some verses to meditate on today.
Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall. Psalm 55:22
Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Psalm 61:1-3
Though we are overwhelmed by our sins, you forgive them all. Psalm 65:3
For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. Zephaniah 3:17
I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift
the world cannot give. So, don’t be troubled or afraid. John 14:27
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
God,
We come to you now and thank you for who you are. Thank you for the way you love us—unconditionally, uncontrollably and so undeservingly. Help us to lay our worries at your feet. When we are overwhelmed, lead us to the rock that is higher than us. Lead us to you. We love you, father. It’s in your name we pray. Amen.
by Sadie Robertson Huff | Apr 30, 2018 | Life Advice, Testimonies |
I have never been a runner, just the thought of running makes me tired! I am not trying to be dramatic, but people who like to run are like immortal to me. I just stare at their toned legs, with a confused look at the muscles I did not even know existed and admire their outfits. I have tried to buy the clothes to inspire me, but it just doesn’t do it. One of the definitions of running is, “moving in a hectic and hurried way”. This is relatable, because I don’t look like a gazelle when I run–I look like a sweaty, out of breath, panic attack with legs. If you ever see me running, you should start running too, because I’m probably running AWAY from something. I think you get the point. It has always been my least favorite form of exercise.
When my mom first asked me to run a half marathon, just pondering this thought in my head of me running in a half marathon…with all of these immortal super humans made me laugh out loud. It also brought a flash back to the time my track coach put me in the 2-mile race as a sophomore and I got overlapped by all 6th graders. As each person overlapped me, I was faced with the daunting realization that I am about to have to do the last lap by myself with everyone watching. Que the prayer: Jesus, take me now. Like I said, “not dramatic at all.” 🙂
I was so embarrassed and honestly exhausted. As I ran across the line to take that last lap, the nicest human on the planet, John Luke Robertson, my brother himself ran out on the track and joined me in the last lap—all while playing it’s the heart of a champion (my favorite work out song) and got the crowd going. It went from being this overwhelmingly daunting, embarrassing lonely race, to one of the best and most hilarious memories of my life. And to be honest, when he came out, it was like he came with strength, energy and life to give to me.
At times, life can feel like that last lap, right? You’re tired, you’re out of breath, you do not see much value in even running it—because the winners are already announced, and it can look lonely if you let it. You get physically exhausted, you get mentally exhausted and you get spiritually exhausted when you try to run in the 21st century Marathon alone, and sometimes, it seems like there is no end in sight. Everyone around you and on social media seems to be succeeding, everyone seems to know what direction they are going…and you are sitting there wondering, “God why do I feel like I’m running alone, and what is my purpose for even running? My run really doesn’t matter.”
“Therefore, since such a great cloud of witness’s surrounds us, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us…” Hebrews 12:1
When my mom asked me to run the race with her, I had actually said yes. Laney, John Luke and I all signed up, but right before, I fractured my foot and couldn’t run. Laney had to back out and John Luke had to go on a last-minute trip, so my mom realized that she had to do this race “alone”. I thought for sure she would back out as well. She did just the opposite and set an example to me that I always hold on to and learn from. She said these words, “I did not sign up for this race for y’all, or to do it with y’all. I did this because it was something that I wanted to do.” God put inside of my mom a desire to accomplish a half marathon. It was the race that was marked for her, and we all got to go and cheer her on while she persevered through each mile. I cried proud tears and was left so inspired by everything I saw.
I realized that the day of the race it was such a race of unity. There were people from all over running in the same marathon together with the same end goal to cross the finish line, but every person had a different motive and/or purpose for running it. In life, I like to believe all of us have the same end goal in mind to cross the finish line— fulfilling the purpose that God has set before us to the fullest. But sometimes, in doing that, it can actually look like a lonely path, if you’re looking at it through the world’s perspective. The originality of your specific purpose might look different than everyone else’s, but I want to encourage by saying this: there are a lot of people running the marathon, and a lot of people cheering you on. And if you find yourself walking down a path alone, it is not to isolate you. God is running with you, creating something new that is different than purpose of the person beside you. My mom admitted after the race that right before she started running, she got a little sad that she was doing it alone and it made her a little nervous. But then she said that along the way, it was the kindness of strangers, the desire for others to succeed and the encouragement by everyone that made the race so fun.
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength and renew their power, they will lift up their wings and rise up close to God like eagles rising towards the sun, they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not grow tired.” Isaiah 40:30
These are promises of strength, so that you will not get too exhausted to run the race He has set before you. In fact, you will become even more passionate about the purpose behind why you run. There are gifts and creativity you will reach along the way of your run with Him. There are promises and provision to grab hold of as you run. God’s desire for you is to reach all of them along side of Him, so that as you run, you can give life to the world. The race is worth the run. Mom said at one point, this lady handed her on orange—it was the best orange she had ever had in her life and it gave her energy to finish. God is going to hand you gifts that will be the best you have ever received and it will give you strength to finish. You are not alone. I am cheering you on as a sister, and God is running with you as a father. Keep running. The world is better because of it.
by Brittany Price-Brooker | Apr 27, 2018 | Testimonies |
It was the middle of the night and I sat there in the darkness, feeding my little newborn snuggled in my arms, with hot tears falling from my cheeks and landing on his. I kept saying, “God this is more than I can handle, how can I do this? How can I live like this?” I rocked in that rocking chair trying to make sense of my reality. Just days before, everything in my life had been turned upside down and I was still in shock that this was my life. My beloved husband had suddenly and unexpectedly died at age 30. He kissed me goodbye before he left for work, and within hours, he was in the presence of Jesus. I was left here with our precious three boys who were all under the age of three. I was exhausted from grief, the weight of death and the overwhelming thoughts of doing the future alone. I didn’t know how people could live through this crushing weight, yet here I was—awake and trying to take care of my baby, while my heart was broken into pieces. Death had stolen my amazing life I had and loved. This trial, this life of suffering I was called to bear, was really too much for me to handle on my own and it really was too overwhelming to even grasp. So many questions, thoughts and worries filled my mind of how I was going to make it through the unthinkable.
All I remember is suddenly in that room, through the cloud of grief hovering over me, I didn’t feel alone. I felt a comforting presence surrounding me. Jesus began to remind me of His truth, that because of sin and brokenness of the world, we will experience more than we can handle on our own. However, He promised to come and carry our burdens for us, to never forsake us, to guard our heart with peace in the storm, to never slumber or sleep but to gently carry us through each storm. God was reminding me that no matter what I tried to do or the strength I tried to muster on my own, I could not handle this trial alone. He alone could handle this. There were so many days where I felt as if I should be drowning, but instead I was floating on God’s mighty grace. His grace was something that was overwhelming and truly felt supernatural—that’s how He always works, in our utter weakness His strength is made more perfect and powerful so that He gets the glory, not us.
That night and for all these years, the strength of God’s arms have wrapped around my weak body and weary heart, and helped me stand when it was hard to even move. God alone has given strength to sing His praises through the stormy nights, even through the tears and the questions. He still gave a sacrifice of praise that I could whisper through the pain filled days. Even though this trial has been more than I could ever handle, I have never once had to handle it alone. God has always given me His portion when I asked. Jesus truly is enough, not our security in this life, nor our comfort in this world, not health, not in perfect relationships, not in living out our dream, not in our family looking the way we want, but just Jesus, He is the only lasting Hope, our greatest reward, and the greatest portion. He becomes enough when we loosen our grip on this world that we look to for fulfillment and instead cling to Christ with all we have, knowing He is sufficient for all our needs.
If Jesus can walk me through the valley of the shadow of death, I know He will walk you through your deepest pains and give you strength to call on His name. The reality is oftentimes, our situations are too much to handle, but that’s why God has not called us to do it alone. He wants to show us that HE can handle it. There is nothing too great that God cannot carry us through. Jesus bore the greatest weight of sin, death and brokenness on the cross, sacrificing everything so that we didn’t have to. He died and rose again, defeating death so that we can live abundantly in Him. Jesus longs for us to call on His name and exchange our total weakness for His everlasting strength.
May we trust Him in whatever comes our way—even when it is more than we can handle, thanking Christ that we never have to walk this life alone.
by Cathe Laurie | Apr 20, 2018 | College, Life Advice |
Today I went to a wedding party. It was such a fun gathering to celebrate our friends! And as girlfriends on happy occasions are wont to do, we snapped a few photos together. There we all were, some in their 20’s and 30’s wearing adorable dresses, youthful skin all aglow, and some of us who are…ahem…a few years older and a little worse for the wear. But that didn’t stop me from smiling.
I smile with joy (and a small sense of glee) in being older. Forty-nine and some change—okay, a lot of change! Yes, I am decades past youth, but honestly, I would not go back on a single year lived. I am me. I am happy to be the me I am. Time, plus Jesus, plus experience, has made me who I am, with all the failures and triumphs and friends who have helped me step into this beautiful season of life. I don’t want to take a single minute of this season for granted.
Now, I’ll admit that some aspects of aging I don’t love. Like the other day when I saw my reflection in the mirror and noticed cellulite on my belly, just like I remember my mother had. Left to my own devices, would I swap this for firmer biceps, less wrinkles and a better memory? On some days. That’s why I’m grateful that I am not left to my own devices.
Truth is, I have an amazing husband, the best of friends, and a solid faith in God. Worth far more than all the Goop that Gwyneth Paltrow could sell me. I’ve been blessed with an incredible family, a church that I cherish, and a high purpose to live for every minute of this journey. Would I trade any of this for a flatter belly? Are you serious?
I choose to be grateful for every gray hair and achy muscle, knowing I’ve had many dear friends who died too young. We who are living the other side of Forever 21 need to remember and learn to pay attention to what matters most. So much of what I used to worry about seems silly now. Is it worth stressing out if I wasn’t at the party? (Though I do love parties!) If I find myself wondering what so-and-so may think, I’ve learned to tell myself I don’t have that kind of time. I really don’t.
Lately I’ve noticed my house showing its age too. I’d like to freshen up the décor, but as I pondered the expense and upheaval, it dawned on me. This will probably be the last time I do this. Twenty years ago, I made some good design choices that have served this house well. The leather chairs in our family room have racks and wrinkles now, and the cushions don’t plump up as easily as they used to. But those deep indentations are a witness to the many happy hours we’ve spent together in that room. For that, I am grateful. For wise choices made, and for the reality that next time this house needs an overhaul (hopefully not for another twenty years) there will be another “house” not so far off, a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. One that will never need repainting. No whitewashed shiplap, interior sliding barn doors, or beautiful grey oak plank floors could make me desire anything more than the perfectly curated home that awaits us in heaven!
I’m fascinated by that word, curated. It’s Middle English, from medieval Latin curatus, ‘to care’. It means to select, organize, and arrange with expert knowledge. As women, we appreciate beauty in all things, and what could be more beautiful than knowing that every season of our lives has been curated by our infinitely perfect and expert Creator? His plans and designs for us are exquisite and timeless.
When we get to heaven, we will realize that cellulite and wrinkles were 1,327th on the list of what matters most, here and now, on earth.
So Lord, we pray “…teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. And let the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us…”
(Psalm 90:12, 14, 17)
Cathe Laurie is the wife of Greg Laurie, who is senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Southern California. She is also the founder and director of Virtue, the thriving women’s ministry at Harvest.
