Keep your eyes on Jesus!

Our Guest: Stacy Blackstone

Stacy Blackstone’s advice is the keep your eyes on Jesus! Her heart was awakened to reach the unreached around the world after her first visit to Asia in the 1990’s. After serving in West Asia alongside her husband, Tom, she found the skills acquired first as a paralegal and subsequently as a banker for 13 years prepared her well to serve Galcom International as its Business Administrator and Secretary/Treasurer. Galcom International is a ministry that gives help and tools to missionaries and local pastors internationally so they can reach more people with the gospel. She has also been a successful homeschooling mom to three teenage and young adult daughters.

Key Thoughts and Scriptures:

Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Jesus is more than just your Savior.

God was planting seeds in Stacy’s life even when she didn’t recognize it.
“I had a purpose in life that was much bigger than myself. It was about glorifying Him. That wouldn’t happen unless I fully surrendered my life to Him and made my life about Him and not about me.”
God revealed Himself as Abba Father.
God is a faithful, loving Father who wants us whole and available to Him.
You can’t control what happens to you. All you can control is how you react.
“How can I honor You in my life?”
God does things differently than we do. We just need to keep listening.

Proverbs 16:9 NKJV A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

There are multiple ways to confirm that what we are hearing from the Lord is really Him.
- Is it Biblical?
- Is a council of godly people around us praying and confirming?
We need godly people who are willing to tell us the truth even when we’re not wanting to hear it.
Even in the midst of a situation Stacy and her husband did not like, God was using it as provision for their family.
“Lord, what are you doing in this?”
Sometimes we simply have a longing for more understanding.
“You don’t have to know. I do and that’s enough.”
There’s grief in things not going the way you thought they would go.
You can either hold onto your grief and become bitter and angry or you can lay it at the Lord’s feet as an offering.
God is good and He is faithful.

“The Lord will be faithful to take you through a stripping process to remove anything you’re relying on for your security, your identity…He wants you to be focused on only Him for those things.” – Catherine Marshall

The things that Stacy thought she wanted and thought the Lord was leading her to she had to lay them down.
The Lord gave her something even better, not only by her own estimations but for His Kingdom purposes.
God speaks your language.
We need intimacy with the Lord.
It’s easy to get into the habit of doing what we think we’re supposed to do, rather than doing the works God has prepared for us to do.
To know God’s works for us we need to be seeking Him, listening to Him, obeying Him, and trusting Him.

Ephesians 2:10 NIV For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

When we misunderstand Him, He will redirect us.

Isaiah 55:9 NKJV For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Exodus 34:5-7 NIV Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin…

When God disciplines us, it is in love for our good.

Isaiah 54 NIV …All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace…Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you…

God is good always.
Rather than keep our eyes on our circumstances or expectations, keep your eyes on Him.
When we feel God has forgotten us, it’s the knowledge of His character that tells us that He cannot abandon us.
Everything God allows in our lives is for our good and will be used for His glory.
Knowing who He is defeats so many lies the enemy tries to tell us.

Luke 1:26-56 NIV Mary, the mother of Jesus

Mary abandoned herself to whatever God had planned.

Luke 10:38-42 NIV, John 12:1-10 NIV Mary, the sister of Lazarus

Mary understood sitting at Jesus’ feet and absorbing all He had to share.
Be hungry daily for His presence.
Then do what He tells you to do.

Psalm 141:8 NIV But my eyes are fixed on you, Sovereign Lord; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.

Philippians 4:7 NIV And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Books:

The Father Heart of God by Floyd McClung
Something More by Catherine Marshall
Transformation of the Inner Man by John Loren Sandford

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You Keep Your Eyes on Jesus, Stacy Blackstone’s Story (Ep. 43)