One in a Million-part one

Balance- to equal or equalize in weight, number, or proportion. That was Kenric’s message last Wednesday night. And I needed it. My life sometimes gets out of balance and I have to let some things go in order to make time for others. That has been the case with blogging this month. My health needs attention so I’ve put aside blogging in order to do the Made to Crave Bible Study but I will admit I miss blogging greatly. So I’m squeezing in a little time to blog this week since our book club is Thursday night. Blogging always helps me get my thoughts about the book in order. It brings balance to my thinking!

I want to start by saying thank you again for taking this journey with me. Each book brings something new to my relationship with God. It’s so amazing how God has placed each book during a certain month so it will correlate with other things I’m studying. I hope God is doing this for you too. Last week in Beth Moore’s Bible study she talked about having different circles of friends. This book club is my “12.” And I am very thankful for you all!

Now on to the book…..

One in a Million has been amazing! Pricilla is such a wonderful writer. The Lord has blessed her with a great insight into the journey through the wilderness. In chapter one Priscilla awakes our need for more than the status quo Christian life. She ignites the soul to want more, to want an abundant life. My soul was stirred right off the bat with the desire to be “one in a million.” Her goal for us is “I want the pew to reach the pavement. I want the things you hear and see and believe on Sunday to be the things you hear and see and experience all week long.” (page 12)

Fleeing Egypt!

This was one of my favorite chapters. I found so many great nuggets of truth. First, the illustration of the elephant wowed me. She’s so right about how we have been chained down by sin since birth. As babes we aren’t strong enough to break the chain so we grow up accustom to it. “People who’ve been trained by sin, as all of us were, require some reprogramming if we’re going to break out of our natural patterns and our usual ways of doing things.” (page 19) This statement hit home for me. I struggle with food. I use it in place of God. I turn to it for comfort and reward. For everything really. So the Lord has moved in major ways to get my attention regarding this issue. He’s used this very book in that process. I know that I am in a wilderness right now and He is teaching me valuable lessons. He is leading me away from Egypt to my promise land.

The Biblical typology she uses was another reason I enjoyed this chapter.

1. Pharaoh correlates to the role of Satan.
2. Egypt is equivalent to a life in bondage to sin.
3. Moses is a forerunner of Christ and His deliverance.
4. Canaan represents the abundance to life in Him.

So just like Pharaoh wanted to keep the Israelites in bondage so they wouldn’t rebel and conquer Egypt; Satan wants to keep me in bondage to food so I won’t find the strength to live for Christ as I was meant too. And just as God sent Moses to the Israelites to free them from bondage; God sent Christ to deliver me from my bondage to food. It’s a humbling thought. Thank you Lord that the power of sin was broken at the foot of the cross!

But Satan won’t be defeated in this area easily. “Our enemy, our taskmaster, knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows what it takes to keep us humbled and under his thumb, to keep us living as though we’re still slaves back in Egypt- redeemed saints living ‘in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.’ (1 Thess.4:5)” (page 21) And boy does he know my weaknesses. It’s a daily battle. So I am claiming 1 Peter 2:11! "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;"  Hey I just noticed that Peter called us pilgrims!  I'm a pilgrim on a journey through the wilderness. See? God is so good!

So that’s my wilderness. Are you in the wilderness with me? Maybe your wilderness looks all together different than mine, but none the less we’re in it together.

photo by Nick Garbutt- http://www.nickgarbutt.com/photo-galleries/environmental