BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION

by | Aug 7, 2023 | Prophetic | 1 comment

What the Lord plans to do in us in the future requires a solid foundation on which to build His purpose for our lives. Without that strong foundation, our efforts will be in vain.

For years Jan and I walked by a vacant 160-year-old historic home in our small town called the Kubli House. We wondered about its future. Over the years, it had become increasingly obvious it needed restoration and repair that only new owners with the required skills and clear vision could provide.

Kubli House is currently one of the most beautiful and well-appointed vacation rentals in southern Oregon. It didn’t become that without the investment of financial resources and an unwavering commitment to its future vision.  

In 2021 its new owners, Brian, and Kathleen Dunn, began working on a restorative journey as a husband-wife design-build team.  The Dunn family happens to be our next-door neighbors. They are good friends and the best kind neighbors one could ask for. Many times, we learned about the progress of their restoration project during conversations over the back fence.

While the visible above-ground components of the house are stunning and well-appointed, the restoration process had to begin with the foundation. An old compromised foundation consisting of thousands of bricks and stones could not support the vision for its future until a new foundation was created.  

I shared all this history about the restoration of the Kubli House to make a spiritual parallel. So much of our future potential and calling depends on the foundation upon which we build that future. Can you imagine what would have happened if Brian and Kathleen tried to build their beautiful vacation rental atop a faulty and failing foundation? It would not have passed inspection and all their investment of time, energy, and resources would have been wasted.

A major component adding to the strength of the foundation of our faith is obedience. Jesus said, “But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins” (Luke 6:49). The smallest acts of obedience today will ensure that a solid foundation for our faith will be in place when the storms of life come trying to undermine our lives.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful” (I Corinthians 3:10). One reason why individual lives, marriages, and businesses fall apart is that pride, arrogance, or deception were included in the building materials of the foundation. We have to be careful what we allow to be poured into the forms of our foundation.

Peter adds something to the mix that we can too easily forget. The strongest foundations are fortified by suffering. “In his kindness, God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So, after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation” (I Peter 5:10). Like the curing of a cement foundation, suffering is what strengthens and matures the foundation of our faith. Without it, our foundation is untested and unreliable.

Obedience, integrity, and suffering are the components of a strong foundation of faith. Unless we build upon a foundation that includes those three elements what we have based our lives on will not be able to support what God has planned to do in our lives.  It will crumble under the stress. A firm foundation will allow us to build atop its strength and invite others to come and share in the beauty of what God has done.

https://www.kublihaus.com

1 Comment

  1. Cynthia Sherstad

    As a builder’s daughter I spent a lifetime watching my dad direct the concrete subs placing the forms for the concrete pour. It was the most important part of the job.

    In June 2013 God gave me a vivid dream 6 mos after my beloved father passed on to his home in heaven. I was still grieving his parting. But joy came in the morning!

    I saw my dad laughing along with a TALL person in robes next to him. Such joy and love…I called out to him crying and then he turned his head looking down in my direction. He was looking through my eyes because he heard my voice. I touched his arm and he was strong and healthy, no longer sick and frail. I saw his face and eyes close up and they were the most brilliant blue with fine “laugh lines” at each corner. He looked about 40 yrs old….and he was holding up blueprints! PTL!

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