What is Your House Built Upon?

Yesterday was rough! No doubt about it. Fear kept trying to take hold, but I kept reminding myself what fear is: False Evidence Appearing Real. As I sat in a room while doctors kept trying to draw lines and make determinations, I was in pain and frustrated and upset. All the while, trying to remind myself that fear (all the fears that were popping into my head) wasn't real and tried to remember what was real: I am a child of God, I am covered by His Blood, God is in control.

While in the waiting room, I pulled out my book, Secrets of the Secret Place, by Bob Sorge. I read a section called, "Obedience builds unshakable foundations." Based on the scripture in Matthew 7:24-27, it said, "You will notice that the storms come both to those who do Jesus' saying and those who don't do them. No one is exempt...The question is, will you survive?" (17). One of my favorite verses is John 16:33 where Jesus says, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Look at those two verses for a minute. In Matthew 7:25 & 27, Jesus said, "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house..." In John 16:33, Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble." We are all guaranteed to have issues and trouble and pain at different times in our lives. I've heard it said, "Into each life some rain must fall." That's why it's good to have an emergency or a "rainy day" fund. You can't always predict when the rains will come, but you do know that they'll come. So what determines the outcome? Jesus! If you have build your life and house upon the solid rock that is Christ Jesus, then when the rains come, the streams rise, and the winds blow, you will not fall down.

For everyone who builds his life upon the rock of Christ, he is promised to have peace like a river and righteousness like the waves of the sea, (see Isaiah 48:18). "The greater the winds that assault the obedient, the more his righteousness rises up like mighty breakers, crashing on the shore in majestic thunderings of fragrance to God," (17). Sometimes you have to endure the fire so that God can purify parts of your life. Sometimes He lets you fall so that He can build you back up. And sometimes He lets you slip, or trip, to test your faith and your foundation. When you fall, who or what do you hold on to, to stand back up? The Bible tells us to lean not on our own, but to lean fully into Him, and He will stand you upright, (see Psalms 55:22, Proverbs 3:5). Be cautious, take precautions, build your emergency fund, and stand upon the Rock who is Christ Jesus, for He will uphold you.