Ebenezer Stones (Part 3)

(Part 1 Here. Part 2 Here.)
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Now let us draw forth and develop some action steps from the core truth of this story.

First, we should review Gods’ past deliverances. Samuel wanted the Israelites to remember their past, their national spiritual heritage. “Remember the Exodus,” he was saying. “Remember the manna in the wilderness. Remember crossing the Jordan. Remember Jericho. Remember Deborah, Gideon and Samson.”

We can remember our salvation story. We can remember the time God healed us, or healed a loved one. We can remember when we were lonely, hurting, needing friends. Then we found this church. We found family. We found acceptance. We can remember being bound in addiction, trapped in darkness, captive to chains we could not break. And then came Jesus. He became our deliverer. He became our champion. He became our savior. We have a lot to remember.

I remember the Lord's work in my life the year 1991. God spoke to us, to my wife Colleen first and only slowly to me, that we were to pull up our family and leave our church and friends in Maryland to move to Mississippi, my family's home state. It took a lot of faith to take that step. But I felt the Lord speaking to me from the story in the Book of Joshua where the Jordan River would not part until after the priests first put their feet in the water. Unlike the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus, God required them to act first before the deliverance as a test of faith. In our case, we decided to obey and made the decision to move with no money to finance the move and no job awaiting me in Mississippi. Only after we made the decision to go and stated it publicly did the miracles of provision and opportunity start to happen. Our house sold for full price in less than a week. There was enough profit from the sale to finance the move, buy a new car, and purchase our present home in Mississippi. Then I found a good job immediately after we got here. There was a new and better relationship with my family. I remember what God did for us - this is one of my Ebenezer Stones.

Second, we should memorialize these deliverances. This might take the form of keeping a spiritual journal, writing a poem, creating some form of artwork, even building an actual monument. Many believers of great faith testify to the benefits of journaling, of writing out the stages of your spiritual and life journey. There are books you can buy to help you get started. If you can’t think of anything else, pile up some rocks in your back yard. Thus far God has helped me! I have a notebook of prophecies and letters from our friends in Maryland. Our friends wrote down their memories of each of us, and visions for our futures. That book is an Ebenezer Stone, reminding me of God’s deliverance then, and encouraging me to believe him now.

Next, we should meditate to strengthen your faith. Mediation, in this context, means 0chewing over the events of your experience. What was God after in you when he allowed certain things to happen? Remember, relationship is what God is really after. What response from you is he looking for? Reading that memorial book from 1991 helps me and strengthens my faith. It almost forces me, by remembrance of the adventurous faith we had then, to confront my sometimes lack of faith in the present.

Finally, we should act on that faith now. Faith equals actions. This is where we move from living in the past, to carrying the lessons learned into our futures. What does God want you to do in your present situation? He wanted Israel to trust him, to honor Samuel as Gods’ prophet and their judge, and pray for deliverance. What does he want you to do? Are you willing to do it?

I have to bring the lessons for me and our family forward from 1991 to now. God calls me to have the same faith and willingness to take risks now that I did then. Am I willing again to put my feet in the water before he opens the way. Maybe he has a similar desire for you.

(Part 4 Tomorrow)