Great Rivers, Great Challenges- 2009

Reflections From the Valley

 by M.C. Bel


I have been walking though a valley. It is not the first and will probably not be the last. God is so faithful. He said He would never leave or forsake us. So He walks with us through the valleys of this life. He teaches us deep and wonderful things if we will just submit to His instruction. Perhaps there is a blessing in my sharing of what the Lord has been teaching me in this particular valley.


The fall began with believing satan’s lie. We act out of what we believe. If we believe satan’s lie it leads us into disobedience. We fear because we are in disobedience (remember Adam was afraid when he heard God walking in the garden.) We hide because we fear. Disobedience and fear separate us from God. When we hide we cease being in relationship to God and we stop doing the work He gave us to do. For Adam and Eve it was tending the garden. For us it is preaching the gospel and building the church…using the gifts God has given to each of us to accomplish His work here on earth. So fear is the third act of our fallen nature and is rooted in believing satan the father of all lies. The first act was to listen to the father of all lies, the second was to believe and act on the lie. Faith is believing God and when we believe God there is no room for fear for His perfect love cast’s it out. I believe the Lord has been delivering me from my fear and is delivering you from yours if you will allow it.



Most of us know that Peter denied Jesus three times before a rooster crowed on the night that Jesus was arrested. How very awful! It is so easy to skip right over Mark 14:27 which says “that you will all fall away.” Not some, but ALL the disciples fell away. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Jesus was rejected by those who were closest to HIM. As we walk through this life we, too, may know the rejection and betrayal of those we love the most. This is the valley I have found myself in. Jesus was rejected but He did not reject, He held out His arms on the cross and cried out for forgiveness for those who nailed Him there. This is the heart of God! Sometimes, God in His great wisdom may allow us to experience His heart. Taking up our cross and following Him leads to a gap that must be filled by the cry….”Father forgive” and pour out your Spirit on those who stumble in the dark…this is the heart of God personified in our Savior,


For nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1:37) This spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary when he told her that her cousin Elizabeth also was pregnant. So…the angel told Mary, a virgin that she would give birth to Jesus the son of God AND that Elizabeth, an elderly barren woman was pregnant! The scripture says that NOTHING is impossible with God! God is not bound by our deficiencies whether they be seed or deed! God is not bound! He is God Almighty Maker of heaven and earth. No matter what your situation or mine, and mine has been pretty bleak when looked at with natural eyes… when we trust in the Lord we put our trust in a limitless God! He can and does bring forth streams of water in the desert. He calls you and me from a desert places to a place of abundance in HIM. This is not by our strength or our might but by His Spirit…however to get to this place of promise we have to cross over from a place of disbelief to a place of faith and trust.


I have learned that I cannot cross the Jordan if I can’t believe that God can and will defeat the giants. My faith must stand no matter what the battle, no matter what the giants name…doubt, betrayal, fear, old age….even in Mary’s case virginity! I must, by God’s grace, have the faith of Caleb and Joshua. Do I believe God or the lies of my enemy? The Lord says this land of promise is yours, enter and subdue it. My enemy says but there are GIANTS in the land! The Lord has spoken to me and to you as well to “pick up the shield of faith and move forward.” For truly He has given to each of us a call and a promise. Do we believe Him or what we see? This is a question that if we are following Jesus at some point we will have to answer. So what do you do with a giant? You expose him, you knock him down with the smallest of stone’s (a mustard seed of faith!) and you cut off his ugly head in the power of the Holy Spirit! Giants must fall before the power of God Almighty!


In the parable of the sower Jesus says that the seed that falls on good soil stands for a people who hear the word, retain it and by persevering bear a crop. There is an ever constant call before us to choose to hold fast to what we have heard and to persevere. We have each received a promise from the Lord to bring us into His eternal kingdom. However He has not chosen to take us out of this world but to leave us in it. We are told to be in the world and not of it for the world belongs to the god of this age. Persevering calls for character and character is only built by persevering; so we are works in progress each one of us. By God’s own grace the seed that has been sown into us has landed on good soil. THIS will be born out as we walk through the valleys and proclaim the goodness of God in the presence of our enemies… as Silas and Paul sang after being beaten and imprisoned we too shall sing and the chains will fall away as not only we are set free but so are those who hear and bear witness and often this means our very own families.


I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will acknowledge the Lord. Hosea 2:19-20 The NIV text notes say that rather then money these five traits were necessary to the covenant relationship and made up the bride price. We are the Bride of Christ. The Lord has redeemed us by the blood of Jesus and is sanctifying us by His Holy Spirits work in our lives conforming us to the image of Christ He does all the work…it is by His hand, Nature and Blood that we are redeemed, washed and purified. We are betrothed to Him forever, though the wedding has not taken place, and each one of us is a wonderful work in process. A work that is accomplished by Him and through Him… by His justice, His righteousness, His love, faithfulness and compassion that we are His forever and our enemy and all he would do to destroy us and those we love stands defeated. We may doubt ourselves, but not Him! For nothing is impossible for God. He sits on the throne. He is Lord God Creator and Redeemer. He has called us out. He says, come out from among them and be Holy. Come out from among them and behold what I will do! For those that are with you are more then those against. And truly, truly I AM your Front and rear Guard. I will never leave or forsake you…and I will set a table before you in the presence of your enemies….Hold onto to Me and I will walk you though the barren places to a place of milk and honey…A place of victory and Rest….to the mountain top where you will behold the storm far, far below.

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