All posts by Lisa Leidenfrost

Where to stand

controversy

More about how to handle controversies:

How do you handle the news of attacks and controversy when you see smoke but no fire and accusations are abounding about your church?

Here is some practical advice. When there are lies flying about mixed with enough truths that everything gets so confusing, always go back to what you do know. What do you know? That the bedrock of Scripture never changes and addresses everything that concerns us including this. Stand there. What else do you know? God is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do. Stand on those promises.

That is the bedrock, but what else is helpful when all is murky? Stand on what you already know consistently over time, of the characters and ways of the ones being attacked. You may not know the attackers or their lives, but you at least know what manner of men are here before you. If they have proven themselves over and over again, that they stand on the principles of God’s Word, and if something is not right that involves them, they will want to do everything they can to make it right. So, remember the character of the people involved and remember the Biblical way of viewing things, that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Continue reading Where to stand →

Guard The Rear

ministry,

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (I Pet. 5: 8, 9).

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:11-13).

With all the recent controversies surrounding our two churches, I wanted to write my thoughts on the matter. Continue reading Guard The Rear →

A heavenly to do list

Training the mind

Have you ever wanted a ‘to do’ list from God to make sure you are pleasing Him? Well, I have good news for you. I actually stumbled across a couple in the Psalms and these lists may be quite different from what you would normally think. Take a look:

Psalm 105

Oh give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
make known His deeds among the peoples!
Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him
talk of all His wondrous works!
glory in His holy name;
let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
Seek the Lord and His strength
Seek His face evermore!

Psalm 100

“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God’
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves’
we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
for the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

Notice how it is more the attitude and the relationship that matters here and not the actual things done. The underlying attitude is one of gratefulness, thankfulness and joy. The relationship is to a good God whose mercy is everlasting and whose truth endures. To be thankful for Who He is and what He has done for us is of paramount importance.

All our other ‘to do’ lists should flow out of this.

Be Anxious for Nothing

Anxiety and worry, Training the mind

“Rejoice in the Lord Always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil.4:4-7

This is a great step by step approach on how to get rid of anxiety and worry. The verses walk you through it.

The first step is to rejoice. That sounds like a strange thing to do when you are in the midst of a deep concern but it actually is very helpful because it will set your mind in the right perspective to approach Him. What do you rejoice about? Some ideas are that He is your God and that He loves you and that He is in perfect control. Rejoice in His attributes and character. When you verbalize it, your perspective is starting to change to look up. Now you are in a better position to enter into the petition stage. But first you must do something else.  Continue reading Be Anxious for Nothing →

The tower

Anxiety and worry, Training the mind

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe”(Proverbs 18:10).

I knew that going back to Africa could elicit a lot of potentially strong emotions for me. So I didn’t know what to expect or how I would react. We had been in a lot of hard situations and especially the intensity of the last situation: the danger, fleeing, my poor physical state through it all, and the chronic grief that we all went through in saying goodbye to people and a place we loved. All this presented the temptation for a lot of strong feelings. So going back, I didn’t know how I’d react, if I’d see the village and just start bawling or what. But, oddly enough, things went really smoothly.

Here are some of the things that I learned and put into practice as I faced this situation:

Proverbs 18:10 says that the Lord is a strong tower and if we run into it, we will be safe. Safe from what? I think that can mean from all the emotional temptations that can assail us because we are human. We all have our different areas that can set us off and tempt us, especially if we are pushed way beyond what we feel are our limits, but what do we do with all these strong emotions that can pop up in a set up like this? We’re not talking about putting a cap on them and shoving them under as if they didn’t exist, we’re talking about dealing with them which means we’ll have to feel them first. This is not a talk for stoics.

I picture God as being a strong tower and I can take my strong emotions, that can pop up unexpectedly, into the tower with all their intensity. It is like a gust of wind entering a tower and once inside, it whirls around hitting the walls, with each wall being either a promise of God or facts about God’s character. So, as the emotions keep hitting the promises and knowledge of who God is, they lessen until they come to a resting place, having been tamed by the knocking down process. But, if in the process of careening around the tower, the emotions don’t like the roping in and decide to leave out a window, they will go off into forbidden territory and do damage because they are no longer in a safe environment.

Far better to keep them in the tower until they are tamed, having been knocked back to the correct perspective by the promises of God because really, emotional reactions happen due to the ‘way’ in which we look at things in the story. God’s promises help us to gain the right perspective on it all.

So, God is a strong tower, a hedge, and we can go there, with all the many emotions that we have. For in the tower, we are safe.

God’s Goodness through our Trials in Africa

Training the mind, Uncategorized

(this was a 30 minute talk given to women in the church)

“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified” (Isa. 61:1-3).

This is what Jesus Christ does for us. Imagine a Commander giving orders to his generals on what ground he wanted them to take. To the first one he says, “I want you to take that forest.” The general saluted and left. To the second he says, “I want you to take those hills.” This general also left. To the third he says, “I want you to take the top of that cliff by scaling straight up it. Oh, and one more thing, you will be in a wheel chair without the use of your legs. Now go.”

The third man hesitated and said, “But sir, it is impossible!” Continue reading God’s Goodness through our Trials in Africa →