The Guess Who: "The Key" - Bruce Atchison

Summer reading? Who has time? I find that the only book I read with regularity is the Bible.

Holy Scripture is one wonderful place for inspiration. Canadian Group The Guess Who certainly felt inspired enough to sing about various characters in the Bible, as you can hear on this song.

In my personal life, I admire Gideon. He wasn't from any popular or mighty family and tribe. He was just a person chosen by God to liberate Israel during the time of the judges.

When the angel of the Lord came to Gideon, he felt inadequate for the task he was called to do. As Judges 6:15 (Bible in Basic English) says, "And he said to him, 'O Lord, how may I be the saviour of Israel? See, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.'"

But instead of chiding Gideon, the Angel said in verse sixteen, "Then the Lord said to him, Truly, I will be with you, and you will overcome the Midianites as if they were one man."

I relate to other misunderstood and underestimated people in Scripture too. Christians down through the ages called one Disciple "Doubting Thomas." But we read his declaration of Christ's divinity in John 20:27 and 28 (BBE). "Then he said to Thomas, 'Put out your finger, and see my hands; and put your hand here into my side: and be no longer in doubt but have belief.' And Thomas said in answer, 'My Lord and my God!'"

And having read the accounts of these faithful saints, I rejoice in the knowledge that we'll meet them in heaven. Revelation 19:9 (BBE) tells us, "And he (the angel) said to me, 'Put in the book, Happy are the guests at the bride-feast of the Lamb.' And he said to me, 'These are the true words of God.'" What a wonderful day that will be!

What Is Your New Writing Challenge for 2016? by Sandi Somers

Happy New Year to everyone!

Prompt: As you look ahead to your writing/publishing goals for the year, what is a new challenge or risk you want to take in your faith and career? How do you hope to hone your craft, expand your sphere of influence, s.t.r.e.t.c.h.?

New Challenges

The year is fresh, like a newly paved road before us. As I write this blog, my Christmas and New Year’s season is still filled with family and friends. I haven’t thought through all my writing goals for 2016 yet—I plan to take a few days in early January for a writing retreat—to pray and ask God for insight and wisdom.

However, at this point I know I want to tackle these major challenges.

·        A new action plan is the first challenge. My writing has developed a lot over the last year, and I need a new plan.  I’ll look over what I accomplished in 2015, what didn’t get finished (and why). From there I’ll continue with developing an action plan.

·         

·        Write Nonfiction in November is another challenge I’ll pursue. I tried it for the first time this last year and it challenged me to focus on just the one project.

·        Using social media more. In the last few years I’ve focused mostly on developing my writing skills. I’ll look at my long range goals for publishing, and what I can do now. Elaine Ingalls Hogg’s article, “A Timeline for a Successful Book Launch” in our 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers is a valuable resource.

How Gideon’s story can challenge us

This morning I was preparing a Bible study on the life of Gideon (Judges 6-8). I was surprised at how well his story dovetailed with taking on new challenges, and so I share some of my notes with you.

God took Gideon from being a fearful man to one filled with the Holy Spirit. In the beginning, he didn’t know God very well, and fighting against the Midianites seemed impossible. But by the time he faced his enemies, God had given him encouragement, miracles to develop his faith, and strategies to win.

 “(God) calls us to step beyond our capabilities and attempt the impossible, trusting in His all-surpassing strength. If He has called us, He will enable us.” ~ Lloyd John Ogilvie 

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. ~ Albert Einstein

“There are two great words—claim God’s fullness…Dare to act in faith, stepping out in the assurance that you have just what you have claimed. ~ FB Meyer

 Our adequacy “is gained solely as the Spirit fills us and uses our resources for His plan and will.” ~ Bryan Norford

 Scripture provides us with confidence and encouragement. Read and ponder God’s promises as we step into new challenges this year.

 1 Thessalonians 5:24: “The One who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”

Judges 6:14: “Go in the strength you have…Am I not sending you?”

Proverbs 16:9 “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.”

2 Corinthians 3:5: “Our qualification comes from God.”

2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wastelands.”

Questions For reflection:

·        Meditate over the question Jesus asked: “What do you want Me to do for you?”

·        In what ways do you want God to empower you? Often these are the points at which the Holy Spirit is pressing you to go beyond your capabilities.

·        What would you attempt if you were sure the Holy Spirit would fill you and enable you?

·        What new steps of faith will you take? What will you risk?

·        Be alert to any unique strategies and life lessons God will give you as you proceed.

·      

Writer's Block Sometimes Comes With Four Legs and A Tail -- Elaine Ingalls Hogg

Thank you, Elaine--and helpers--for joining InScribe Writers Online as our Guest Blogger today.   

I've inherited a helper, two helpers actually, but only one of them likes to help me type.

When our daughter moved house a few years ago, she asked us to take care of her two cats, Angus and Alex, for two weeks.

Little did I know when I agreed to let these two creatures into my home that they would tug on my heart strings, but they did; tugged enough so that when Heather said she needed to find a new home for them, I agreed to keep them.

The two cats have made themselves quite at home in the last three years. No, worse than that, they've taken over my home and during the day when I'm in my office, their favourite resting spot is on my desk. More than once I have to move a cat tail when I want to type in order to find the keys. Some days, like today when I'm experiencing an attack of writer's block, I don't mind if 23 pounds of cat sits on my keyboard. Moving his furry presence with its pleading blue eyes gives me a perfect excuse to procrastinate.

Why am I procrastinating? Because the words haven’t come easily during the past year. I could blame it on a number of circumstances…illness in the family but that wouldn't be the whole story. Whatever the reason is for the words to be blocked, written words aren't the only ones that have dried up. If I'm honest, I hit a wall in my prayer life this week.

I have prayed the same prayer for several years now, prayed daily for God to take care of people I care about but because I couldn't see the answers, this week I almost gave up. I wanted to say, "God are you having hearing problems? Are you tired? You don't seem to be paying attention to my prayer. If you were, you'd have fixed that problem by now."

So for a while I’ve allowed the cat to use my computer for his pillow. I’ve despaired that the words are locked away, that I couldn't write and I couldn't pray.

Today, I read in my Bible where Gideon, a top notch soldier whose story has been passed down for many generations through the words in the book of Judges, also went through a period when he entertained doubts and wondered if God was hearing his prayer. He asked, "If the Lord is with us (me), why has all this happened to us (me)?"

I read on, interested to learn how such a man changed from questioning to becoming a man of faith, a man whose life story is worthy enough to be included in the Bible. I learned Gideon had gone through trying times. He and his people were in slavery for seven years. Then God called Gideon to set his people free. Freedom was a prayer that had been on Gideon's lips for many years but when God answered his prayer Gideon could hardly believe what he was hearing. He expressed his doubts to God and asked for a sign that his prayers had been heard. God didn't cast him aside because he needed his doubts squashed. Patiently, lovingly, God used a series of miracles to teach Gideon he was talking to a God who could be trusted.

When I finished reading Gideon's story, the writer's block that had crept across my fingers and stopped the words from flowing disappeared. So as I push Angus away from my keyboard, I'd like to leave you with this thought.

This week God has reminded me that answers take time; sometimes seven years, sometimes more, but God does hear our prayer and the answers will come.

Elaine Ingalls Hogg
Award-winning author and inspirational speaker
author@nb.sympatico.ca
http://elainehogg.com
Blog: http://elainehogg.wordpress.com
Read Janet Sketchley's interview with me here

A Little Guy Who Made A Big Impact - Bruce Atchison

Of all the noble characters in Scripture, Gideon is my favourite. I can relate to him since He wasn't strong like Samson, brave like joshua, or highly educated like the Apostle Paul. As he admitted to the angel who appeared to him, "O Lord, how may I be the saviour of Israel? See, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." I love the fact that once this unassuming man knew what he had to do, he went forth and liberated his nation from the Midianite invaders.

Since the biblical Gideon was a timid person who nevertheless caused his enemies to be defeated, I named one of my house rabbits in honour of him. He certainly was worthy of his name. He was a Himalayan bunny who behaved like a fur-clad Dennis the Menace.

Like that comic strip character, Gideon had the knack of getting into trouble. He once found his way past the boards that I placed around my bed and chewed up a leather suitcase, along with assorted cardboard boxes and papers. He snipped my phone line one morning, even though I wrapped it in aluminum foil and tucked it under the baseboards. To this day, I have blankets, sheets, and pillow cases that bear his dental autographs.

Even with all the mischief he caused, I loved that pint-sized rascal. I fondly remember the many pleasant evening hours we spent together as I lay on the floor and petted him. Whenever I sat down on the rug, he came bounding over for pets. He often loafed next to my desk for hours like a faithful dog as I wrote freelance articles.

Gideon also entertained me with his playful antics. During many mornings, he raced up and down the hallway in an attitude of pure enjoyment of being alive. I also let him shred cardboard boxes and phone books so he wouldn't ruin my furniture. He even learned how to hurl rolled up socks between his hind legs like a football quarterback. I loved watching him clearing them out from under the desk and pushing them with his forelegs as if he was digging a burrow.

I wrote a book about Gideon as well as the other loveable rogues that I adopted over an eight-year period. Through hilarious and poignant vignettes, When a Man Loves a Rabbit (Learning and Living With Bunnies) describes how I discovered the true nature of these misunderstood animals by treating them like house pets rather than furry amusements. For more information regarding this memoir, as well as Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School), please visit my InScribe page.

When a Little is Enough - Lynda Schultz

Huge obstacles.

Impossible odds.

Overwhelming challenges.

Gideon was just a poor, frightened farmer, hiding his crops from the Midianites who had beaten his people into submission. Just to survive was challenge enough. Then God comes along, out of the blue, and calls him to run these bloodsuckers off the face of the planet. "The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you … I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as if they were but one man'" (Judges 6:14, 16).

Understandably, Gideon is hesitant about volunteering, or being volunteered.

Can't do it, too weak, mutters Gideon under his breath. Unfortunately the man didn't have the benefit of Paul's writings in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 on the sufficiency of God's grace, the Almighty's power shown through human weakness, rejoicing in those weaknesses knowing that when a man is at his weakest, it is then that the Lord can really show His strength. No one felt less like celebrating his lack of possibilities than did Gideon.

If he'd had a high school yearbook, Gideon might have been listed as the "least-likely-to-succeed." Perhaps he would have penned in the words himself. It wasn't that he didn't know the stories of God's mighty acts passed down from generation to generation (Judges 6:13). He just hadn't experienced any of them himself, and without that personal touch, he wondered if God was really with Israel at all, or if all the stories were just fables embellished to entertain the kids at bedtime.

Gideon's problem was faith, believing in what he had never seen. It's a problem that dogs the steps of all of us.

God didn't make it easy for Gideon. He told the young farmer to go "in the strength" he had, even though Gideon feels his weakness to the core of his soul. God asked him to believe where he had no evidence. He sends a fearful farmer to become a courageous captain of what would turn out to be the essence of minimalist in the annals of the history of armies. He equips Gideon with lamps, pitchers and a promise: "I will be with you." I wonder if Gideon might have felt a twinge of concern as he looked out on the field of Midianites tents that night. I wonder if it crossed his mind to question what on earth a simple farmer was doing in this place, at this moment, with this humanly impossible mission to accomplish.

He went in the strength he had, as little as it was, and Gideon won the day.

Sometimes God doesn't bless us with great strength, or even great faith. He simply takes the little we have to offer Him and does great things with it. In the end it isn't the little that counts; it's the promise of a very big God that makes the difference.