The Ancient Faith (Michael Card)

What's this, you say? Why, it is Michael Card's The Ancient Faith Trilogy. Blogger won't let me post a video, so this is the best I can do. All the music I listened to in my life wasn't as satisfying as music about God. I like the old hymns the best, but this is good, too. 

Each song tells a story. I love stories. I love the Word. Stories about the Word? Perfect. You realize after a while the greatest people in the Bible were just the same as you. Made of the same things. The only thing that set them apart was their obedience. That allowed God to do amazing things in their lives and the lives of others. 

My life was hard. Harder than it should have been. I fought so many battles I lost count. The devil hates me, as he does all believers, but he seems to attack me relentlessly. There will be more battles. They will get worse. Eventually the enemy will kill me, but not before I get some good licks in. I'm not fighting my own battles. I do what God tells me. Though faith in my God goes back to the ancients, I feel He is with me in a real, personal way. I've always been aware of His presence. 

The most terrifying thing to me is when I can't feel Him or talk to Him. God does occasionally "disappear," which is hard to explain. Usually we get off track and into sin and then we can't hear Him. But, there are times when we cry out to Him and He doesn't answer. Those are puzzling times. They don't last forever. If you're in one of those times, remember He will return and gather you in His arms again. This may be a time of testing for you. Your period of silence is designed to teach you trust and obedience. Has God taken something from you? Do you think you feel like Job? You will never be tested exactly like Job. But it may feel like it. If you're going through something now, be sure to praise God because it can always be worse. If there is something in your life you can't change or see around, God will use it to change you. You ask me how I know. Nearly 600 blog posts later, I did learn some things over the last 4 and a half years. 

I don't have a whole lot to say about this. Check out the album if you have time. I've had it since high school on CD. They Called Him Laughter was one of my favorites. It's good to look to the people in the Bible from time to time and realize they stumbled in their faith at times, too. Even Abraham, the father of our faith. That's heartening. I'm very humbled of late. God is working on me. It won't always be this hard. It may just get harder. Haha.

Abraham had the promise he would have a son, but then he went the way of trying to play God and bring that about himself. He took his wife's servant (and advice) and had a child with her. But that son was not the one God promised, and it made a big mess later on. Think of the thorn in the flesh the Arabs have been to the Jews and you realize the price it pays to play God. Also, consider Moses, who KNEW for a fact God chose him to release the Israelites from their captivity to the Egyptians. He went about it his own way, too, screwed up and killed a man, and went off into the desert thinking he disqualified himself from that task. Forty years went by and God tapped him to set His people free. Getting ahead of God was costly for both Abraham and Moses, who were great men of faith. My faith may be an ancient faith, but God is no different today. He tests us to see if we'll listen and obey. If God promised you something, you don't have to go make it happen. He will do it. That has nothing to do with my life, as far as I can tell, but it was pressed on my heart for a reason. (A couple of weeks after I wrote this God gave me a promise in Romans.) I love the Word. There are so many promises. So many stories come alive when your eyes flash upon those pages. My life is bound up in those pages. 

Take care, everyone. 

***

In other news, started going to a little church. The verse the pastor expounded upon my first time there (it was that promise in Romans) was the verse God gave me the day before when fasting and also the verse I claimed a day or two before that. I must have a hard head for God to repeat Himself so much. Nothing else to say because I just started going. Just doing my best to seek His will. The next post is going to be big, so bring a bowl of popcorn.

Thank you for reading. And God bless.

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