Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Confessing the Word




"Ah, Sovereign Lord, 
You made the heavens and the earth 
by Your great power and outstretched arm. 
Nothing is too hard for You."

Jeremiah 32:17 niv




This week a passage from a fiction book I am reading
really jumped off the page at me. 

It made me take in a breath and say, "Oh!"

The truth of this passage 
really spoke to me
and showed me something that 
I want to apply in my life. 

The book I am reading is 
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down
by Neta Jackson.

Within the story, several of the main characters
experienced a very traumatic event together. 

This section comes a couple of weeks 
after the event, but is the first time 
the prayer group has gathered since it happened. 


Avis quickly discouraged simply rehashing the details. 
"We need to help each other move 
beyond the trauma to a place of faith."

"Uh-huh." Ruth considered that. 
"So spiritual, I'm not.
Exactly how do you do that?"

Stu snickered. "You sound like Yo-Yo."

Yo-Yo, sitting crossed-legged on the floor
and cleaning her fingernails with a pocketknife,
just grinned. 

Avis took the question seriously.
"By confessing the Word —"

"Avis! Plain English!" 
This time Yo-Yo did speak up.

"All right, plain English.  
But it's an important concept, so I'm going to break it down.
Confessing — it literally means 'to tell, to make known.' 
The Word, of course, is what God says in the Bible.
So, we can either go around confessing
'Oh, wasn't that awful' or, 'I'm so scared' or, 
'I'm so angry about what happened.' 
Or we can confess the Word:
'I'm created in the image of God.' 
'God knows and cares when even a sparrow falls
to the ground; how much more He cares about me!'
'All things work together for good for those who love Him
and are called according His purpose' —
to name just a few. 
That's what I call 'confessing the Word.'"

I knew I needed that kind of encouragement to actually
speak the Word. Say it out loud. 
Remind myself what God said about stuff 
that happens when my feelings 
are flying off in every direction.

...

"Stu, I don't mean to deny anyone's feelings. 
We all have natural feelings including me. 
Yes, I felt angry. Yes, I was upset. 
I don't think one day has gone by that I haven't cried
about Hoshi's pain, and I don't know how pretty bad.
But I do know that if I stay there in the natural,
focusing on all my feelings, Satan gets a foothold in my heart.
I begin to doubt God's love. My trust slips —
is God really in control? 
All I'm saying is, what I need to do is confess 
the promises of God, and I need to do it right away.
'Satan, you're a liar!' 
'God, Your ways are above my ways, so I trust You!" —
even if I don't feel like it. 
Because that's the only way I can keep my feet 
on solid ground and my heart from 
giving in to fear."


The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down
by Neta Jackson
pg. 192-193, 194




Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, 
set your hearts on things above, 
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:1-3 niv

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