Recently I led a Sunday school class that turned out to be a great lesson in trusting the Lord. I would like to share what we talked about.

We've been talking about The Circle Maker for a long time. For those who don't know, Circle Makers is a book that teaches us how to trust God for things that are beyond our ability to achieve. I would like to share with you some Scriptures that help me know the Lord has great plans for me and hopefully, after you read this, you will know God has great plans for you as well.

Is there something you're believing the Lord for? Something that is so out of reach that by yourself you'd never be able to achieve it? Is there something you'd like to believe the Lord for that seems totally beyond anything you'll ever see? God wants to do great things in our lives, but we have to know our motives. If our motives are selfish, or to make tons of money, probably the Lord isn't interested in seeing those dreams fulfilled. A nice house, a nice car, money to live the way you desire isn't what brings joy in your life. The only thing that will bring joy in your life is to live for Jesus every waking moment. True, sometimes it will be hard, but God has a way of working great and mighty things in our lives when we trust him.

But we have to make the Lord our first delight, yes, even before our spouses and children.

For me, the Lord has given me several verses that help me know the vision I have is a vision that he gave me, as long as I trust him and don't doubt.

Psalm 27:8 My heart has heard you say, 'come talk with Me,' and my heart responds, 'Lord, I'm coming' (New Living Translation)

When you read Psalm 27:8, what does your mind tell you this verse is saying?

Does a picture comes to mind? What picture is that?

What would you think the Lord is telling you in this verse?

For me, the picture of the way the Lord feels about each one of us is poignantly illustrated in this verse. As I was writing the Sunday school lesson, and thinking of this verse, I couldn't help but think of the old song by Glenn Miller, Moonlight Serenade, "I stand/at your gate/and the song that I sing is of moonlight/I stand and I wait/for the touch of your hand in the June light…"

Seeing the Lord work on my behalf so that I can see the result of this vision starts with my willingness to talk with the Lord and tell him all that is on my heart. The Lord is standing at the gate of my heart, calling me to tell him everything. If I come, we have that loving relationship that both of us want.

Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

For me, this verse reminds me that the Lord God is my Creator and he knows better than I do what my true desires are.  

Closely related to Psalm 37:4 is Isaiah 48:17

This is what the Lord says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

I don't know what is best for me. The Lord knows perfectly what I need.

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for you. Psalm 9:10

"'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord…." Jeremiah 29:13-14

 Did you catch what the Lord is saying when we seek him with all our hearts? "'I will be found by you,' declares the Lord."

The Lord is DECLARING that when we seek him he will make sure we find him. What stronger word could there be than the Almighty DECLARING this? I am awed. God Almighty will do everything he can to make sure we find him!

But we have a part to play in seeking him. These next verses help us know what we need to do:

The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenants and obey his demands. Psalm 25:10

Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46::10

Psalm 112 tells us our rewards for seeking the Lord, fearing him and taking delight in obeying is commands. What are these rewards?

Praise the Lord! How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands….They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly. They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor. Psalm 112:1, 7-9

What do you see in these verses in Psalms 112 that speaks to you?

Isaiah 41:10 is a well-loved and well known verse, but often when we know a verse well, or love a verse particularly, we might be tempted to believe God doesn't speak through it. That is not the case. It's important not to disregard a verse, just because it is well known. God will take these verses and give each of us a special meaning, meant only for us. The same verse can be for each person, because God's word is alive and powerful and will speak to those who allow it to know them.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be discouraged for I am your God. I will strengthen you, and I will help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. For those who ask, receive; those who seek, find; and for those who knock, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

What message do you think Jesus wants us to understand from this verse?

And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled Romans 15:2b

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, 'no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.'1 Corinthians 2:9

These two verses illustrate the need we have to know God's word. We can't be encouraged by Scripture if we never pick it up and read it, and we can never understand how much the Lord loves us unless we know his word and let the Holy Spirit speak to us.

God has promised that he has great plans for us. In some of these scriptures I have shared with you, God has spoken to me and continues to speak to me to help me have courage when I am discouraged and to wait on him. Psalm 27:14 says, "Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord."

When we trust God to do all things in his good timing, we will find that everything that needs to happen in our lives will happen at just the right time, in just the right way, in his perfect will. Then we will be like the people Daniel described in Daniel 11:32b

But the people who know their God will be strong and carry out great exploits.

While I don't advocate the lifestyle Hunter S. Thompson lived, I do think we as Christians need to keep his words in mind as related to obedience to Jesus. For my purposes I changed the quote below just a little, and replaced the word "reader" with "Christian":

“So we shall let the (Christian) answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?”

― Hunter S. Thompson

Jesus wants our lives to be more than existence and when we trust him without reservations, we will find our lives to be exactly what we desired.

I woke up this morning wondering what the disciples were going through this Sabbath day, the day after Jesus' Crucifixion. Did they spend their entire day locked away, wondering when they would be next? I think I would have been so grieved and afraid that I would have wanted to lock myself away. I wondered what thoughts I would have had.

As I write this, Ave Maria is playing over Pandora, and I can't help but know that the Lord willed it so. When I hear this song, I am aware of the amazing events of history that started in a manger and will continue on into eternity from that point to this, on this Sabbath day before Jesus' Resurrection and on into eternity.

Today in Mark I read how Jesus was betrayed and taken to the religious leaders first. After the mock trial he went through, the religious "guards" took him out and beat him. Then he was taken to Pilate who tried his best to release Jesus. We know the story. He failed, ordered Jesus to be crucified after being flogged.

In the custody of the Roman soldiers now, Jesus was subjected to the abuse of the soldiers. It was here that they threw a purple robe on him, and twisted the crown of thorns on his head.

"The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him…." (Mark 15:16-20)

The thought struck me that Jesus must have been a very strong man. First the guards who belonged to the temple beat him (Mark 14:65), and then the Roman soldiers had fun with him. The Bible says "…they struck him on the head with a staff…" I am sure, knowing how bullies act, that they probably concentrated on the area of his head where the thorns rested.  We all know they would not have gently hit him, but with all the force they could; but you notice Jesus never lost consciousness.

I thank the Lord it didn't end there. Tomorrow is coming.

Two thousand years ago
You hung upon that tree
Broken, bleeding, bruised and torn
You died for rebellious me.
I'll never be able to comprehend
What you did that day
But thank you that it wasn't the end
And today I am forgiven and free.

I knew it would come. It was inevitable. I have no regrets and nothing that I can think of to do differently. But it's time.

In December of 2012 I was ready when I found myself unemployed and was actually looking forward to the time being unemployed. I decided that I would let my hair grow long in a sort of celebration of the time off.  As you can see by this photo, my hair grew quite long and I've enjoyed it.

Not very long ago, John and I felt that it was time I started looking for a job. Because the Lord has provided we both have been quite happy with me not working. We knew that just as I was exactly where He wanted me at 21st, so I have been exactly where the Lord has wanted me unemployed. Now it is time to make another change.

Now, I have to admit I've struggled with the idea of going back to work, and I've had to talk long with the Lord about it. All through this time He's been patient and loving to me. I finally came to the place where I said, "Lord you call me to trust You. In You, Lord, I will trust."

What about Ebenezer Productions, you ask? I am more convinced than ever that the Lord has this in mind for me. I am confident that whatever job I get, the Lord will use that job to prepare me for what He has in mind for Ebenezer Productions; and that includes my writing and my photography.

Yesterday I put in my application at Express Personnel. As I walked into their office and throughout my interview, I felt it was exactly where I was supposed to be and exactly what I was supposed to do. Because John and I trust the Lord with all our hearts and not leaning on our own understanding, and because we are acknowledging Him in all our ways, He is directing our paths. Where He leads will be exactly where I'm supposed to be.

So, today I decided to cut my hair.

Here I am, Lord, ready to go where you lead.

This last Sunday, April 13, 2014, I was scheduled to substitute teach for our Sunday school class. As I prayed about the subject I ought to speak on this Palm Sunday, I felt the Lord telling me I needed to talk about forgiving others. Now that Sunday school is done, I feel he is telling me to use this as my blog. The Lord blessed our Sunday school class today, even though there were some hard questions. Here is my lesson, without the questions raised in our Sunday school class.  

Recently on Face Book, the C. S. Lewis Society of California posted this quote from C.S. Lewis on Forgiveness:

"We believe that God forgives us our sins; but also that he will not do so unless we forgive other people their sins against us… No part of His teaching is clearer: and there are no exceptions to it. He doesn't say that we are to forgive other people's sins provided they are not too frightful, or provided there are extenuating circumstances, or anything of that sort. We are to forgive them all, however spiteful, however mean, however often they are repeated. If we don't, we shall be forgiven none of our own." C.S. Lewis, "On Forgiveness," Fern-seeds and Elephants.

As a result of this post, many people commented. Here are just a few of the comments:

"We are forgiven, period!"

"…someone at CS Lewis society of CAL needs to go back and recheck their Bible. As an educational suggestion, do not use any Bible more modern than the KJV."

"Come on people. Don't get so mad at Jesus! C.S. is just affirming his teaching. Matthew 6:13-14 could not be clearer. And it is as clear in your KJV."

"Forgiving doesn't have to mean forgetting, particularly in the case of abuse. But you've gotta let the hate go."

"Forgiveness is not dependent on us. It is a free gift. "For by GRACE you are saved, it is a gift from God and not of works, lest anyone should boast."

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. It is a simultaneous action."

"The forgiven are forgivers"

I found it quite interesting and a little disturbing that people here are in one of two camps about how the Bible reads on our forgiving others.

So what do we believe?

To find out what the Bible actually says about forgiving others, let's first turn to Matthew 6:9-15

9 Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,
    may your name be kept holy.
10 May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
    as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today the food we need,[a]
12 and forgive us our sins,
    as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
13 And don’t let us yield to temptation,[b]
    but rescue us from the evil one.[c]

14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Jesus could have chosen any part of what we call The Lord's prayer to explain a bit more, why do you suppose he chose to explain the forgiveness aspect of this prayer?

Let's look at another instance where Jesus teaches us about forgiving others:

Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone[a] who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![b]

23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.[c] 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.[d] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters[e] from your heart.”

In this parable, Jesus is explaining the concept of forgiving others more clearly than he did with the Lord's Prayer, but he's saying basically the same thing. I have to admit I struggle with this myself. I take comfort, however, that when Jesus tells us how many times we must forgive, he says seventy times seven. What he is telling me is that we need to forgive. If we forgive on one day, and then (as often happens) the next day we have angry thoughts again, we are to forgive again. Every time we struggle with forgiving someone for hurting us, we are to forgive that person again.

Now, imagine you have died and are standing before the throne of God. You stand before him and he's saying,

"My child, in your life you believed in me and trusted in me to save you from your sins and you did many good works in my name. But you didn't forgive others and you held grudges. I cannot let you into my kingdom."

Do you think anyone would ever hear God say this?

Matthew 7:21-27

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

In John 14: 23-24 Jesus says,

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

When Jesus spoke to the disciples and spent the three years prior to his crucifixion, he knew his purpose was to die for the sins of all people. The forgiveness he offers is there for all of us; it's already in place before we accept him. He cried out on the cross "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing." Those people didn't ask Jesus to forgive them, they were taunting him as he cried out these words.

To be a believer in Jesus, one must follow his words, the words he spoke in teaching before he died. After he rose he never said, "Oh, and all that I said before I was crucified, don't worry about it; just forget I ever said it."

No, Jesus said, And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.” Mark 11:25

But make no mistake; there's nothing easy about forgiving others. You can't do it alone, without the Lord helping you. The Lord never promised the Christian walk would be easy; but he did promise that he would be with us, always.

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 16-20

If anyone reading this has trouble with this concept, I would suggest that person ask the Lord to help them see what His truth is. Don’t take my word for it. Ask the Lord to show you His truth, read God's Word and listen for what the Holy Spirit wants to tell you. James promises if we ask God for wisdom He will give it.

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind." James 1:5-6

There are times when I get discouraged. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times. I won't go into details why. Why doesn't really matter.

I believe it is important for me to tell the Lord when I'm feeling discouraged, and so this morning I told the Lord about the heaviness I felt yesterday and that which was still a struggle for me this morning.

As I was talking to Him about it, an image that I saw on Face Book came to mind. The picture said something above it, but the only thing that came to me in my mind this morning were the words "Trust Me", that was written on the photograph itself. Today I couldn’t find that particular post, so I decided to create one of my own, and really, for my purposes this one is better.

I think it's amazing how God brings His word to mind just when we need it. On my computer desk top is this image. The Lord spoke these words to me at the beginning of this year at another time when I was discouraged. This morning those words came back to me just as fresh as if I'd never read them before.

As soon as I read this, I was aware of a song that had been playing in my head for some time at that point, and then, in my head, I listened to the words to His Eye is on the Sparrow. I decided I would print the lyrics and glue them into my prayer journal. As I printed the words, the song came on my CD player quite unexpectedly.  It was the hand of the Lord and I knew it:

"Why should I feel discouraged
Why should the shadows come
Why should my heart feel lonely
And long for heaven and home
When Jesus is my Portion
A constant friend is he
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know he watches me…"

I heard his voice speaking words of comfort to me. He reminded me that I just need to trust him and be obedient to his calling. Nothing else matters. Those feelings of discouragement vanished as I realized that which was troubling me was in the Lord's hands. The old and much loved Psalms 23 came to mind,

"The Lord is my Shepherd
I shall not be in want…"

As I trust him and look to him as sheep look to their shepherd, He will provide all John and I need. His hand will lead us no matter where we travel. All we need to do is trust him and follow the road he places us on.

If you're feeling discouraged today, tell the Lord about it. If you don’t belong to Him, ask Him to show you the truth of who He is and ask Him to help you believe. If you are His, remember, it's okay to be discouraged. Don’t try to hide it from Him, tell Him about it and He will help you through it. He's waiting for you to make the first move.