Tag: Risk Taking

Thinking and Believing, Reaching and Knowing, Speaking, Listening, and Hearing and Doing, Living and Loving from God’s own Perspective.

No matter how hard we try to perceive the awesomeness of God, he is still God, and we are not. We must forever remember that the original, and still primary, sin was seeking to become equal to God. We are to know God, and we should daily seek to know all we can about God, but we can never fully know everything about him or become equal to him. Trying too hard to become equal to God and losing our sense of reverence and awe for God, are at the very heart of all sin.

While we should continuously seek and try to put on God’s righteous character, gracious compassion, and faithful lovingkindness, in humility we recognize too that we approach his majesty, righteousness, wisdom, or holiness on our own.

This is both exciting and frustrating because there is simply too much. But the promise remains true that one day we will be like him and see him as he is (1 John 3:1-3) and know fully even as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13:11-12).

Isaiah 55:6-9 English Standard Version

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Jesus walked among us but for a short time. Along the way, the Gospels tell us, he calmly walked into the lives of twelve men while they were going about their everyday lives. He did not advertise he was coming among ordinary men. There were no billboards or television commercials or social media advertisements or any job search web pages. No one was ever even asked to submit any resumes. It is true there were no e-mail addresses or phone numbers to arrange interviews, to examine resumes to ask probing questions or to even verify any references.

Jesus, the Itinerant Rabbi just quietly and calmly walked among men. He called twelve men to be his students. He told twelve men he was going to be teacher. These twelve men, without asking questions, left their occupations, left their understanding of how things of this earth and things of their God were and in ways we cannot comprehend today, they became students of God’s own ways.

They would gladly follow close behind, “eat the dust of their Rabbi!” to learn more about the incomprehensible ways of their God. They would long to feast upon every word, every thought, every utterance, every action of this Rabbi. he taught them with an authority no one had ever experienced before, and no one would ever experience again. They would see the miraculous, be mightily tested and challenged to think outside the Temple box and believe great and mighty and unknowable things their finite minds could never hope to comprehend.

God wanted to be known among men for who He REALLY was, not some bizarre contrivance from the over rationalized thoughts, over regulated, and unspoken rules and traditions which other learned men had long since placed before them and blindly expected them to follow. God was looking for some minds, thoughts of men which He could take hold of, which He could transform into His image. He sent His Son to be Rabbi and Teacher. Give them the incomprehensible God.

Rabbi Jesus was teaching them the unknowable, unreachable, and unsearchable things of His Father in Heaven. Jesus now had these twelve under his tutelage. These twelve struggled mightily for the three years they were with them. It was an impossible task to undertake a PhD +++ in God, in such a short span of time.

The truth is that any task in life – is easy if you know the answers, procedures, and skills necessary. Not knowing the correct answer is what makes a test hard. Not knowing any of the necessary procedures and skills required is what makes a complex task hard. Not knowing what to do is, so often, what makes life hard.

The problem is not the test, task, or life at hand; the problem is in simply not knowing. Ignorance – not an insult, but the simple absence of knowledge which is important to us – is not always bliss. It is both a daunting, terrifying thing. Is there an answer to knowing the unknowable, the unsearchable things of God?

The Answer: Found in Context

A few verses before, in Isaiah 55:6, the Lord through Isaiah instructed His people to, “seek the LORD while he may be found” (ESV) – reminding us that the gift of salvation is not extended to us, as individuals, forever. We must accept God’s invitation to seek, to look for grace prior to the end of our lives – and the coming day of judgment. God’s gracious nature is eternal, but our lives on earth are not. God lovingly but clearly declares this reality in this remarkable verse.

Then, in Isaiah 55:7-8, immediately before our passage for this devotion, God calls His people to repentance and trust in Him – the key to salvation. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” God’s plan of salvation is neither locked away, secret or hidden; it has been boldly, triumphantly, and resoundingly declared throughout all the ages.

Salvation comes by turning from sin – rebellion and opposition to God, His plan, and His purposes – and turning to Him in faith and trust. In a hard world seemingly full of things so unknowable, unsearchable, complicated, complex, and difficult to understand, God, in His infinite wisdom and grace, has made attainable, the way of salvation joyously simple – to repent, and to trust Him.

The Relationship Between Trust and Knowledge

Trust. What a remarkably simple thing, and yet something with which so many people struggle. In a very real way, trust is founded in knowledge. And, like so many of the problems we encounter in life, the problem with trust is the lack of knowledge concerning it. We often think of trusting as the opposite of knowing – that is, trusting somebody requires commitment without knowledge.

For example, I trust somebody to keep something in confidence, regardless of whether or not I know that they’ll actually keep a secret. I trust somebody to show up to an event or perform a task, regardless of whether or not I know that they’ll actually show up or do what they’ve committed to do.

However, to think of trust in this way is actually to miss the whole point of trust. The very concept of trust is built on knowledge. We trust in someone because, based on our knowledge of that person, we believe that they are worthy of our trust.

While trust is an action unto itself, it is an action founded in knowledge.

More specifically, trust requires the knowledge of mutual commitment.

Trust requires the knowledge of mutual understanding. Trust, ultimately, requires the knowledge of a mutual expression of love. All of these things are what God desires in His relationship with each of us.

The problem most people have with trust is the fear that their commitment, understanding, and love will not be returned – the absence of knowledge that the other individual will hold up their end of the “bargain.”

God has taken that fear out of the equation by reminding us that He has already expressed each of these things in an ultimate and complete fashion.

Commitment

The ultimate expression of God’s commitment was the giving of His only begotten Son. As John 3:16 so powerfully declares, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV).

Further, Psalm 55:2 reminds us, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” (ESV).

Jesus told us in Matthew 6:26, “Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?” (CSB).

All throughout the Bible, we are reminded of God’s care and commitment for us as His children. God has already given His commitment. He calls on us to freely choose to commit 100% of our thoughts and actions unto Him alone in return.

Understanding

The ultimate expression of God’s understanding can be seen in how well He knows and understands His creation and, above all, His people.

As the LORD declared to the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5 ESV).

While this verse is directed toward Jeremiah specifically, the principles behind it are echoed in numerous other passages, accounts, and teachings throughout Scripture. God knows and understands us more deeply than any other human being possibly can.

In truth, God knows us better than we know ourselves! Psalm 139 conveys this truth in breath-taking terms. For example, the Psalmist declares:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me!

            You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

            You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.” -Psalm 139:1-3 (ESV)

Love

God has shown His love for His people countless times all throughout the Bible and human history, but in no event was God’s love for His people shown more clearly than in what happened at the cross of Calvary.

As Romans 5:8 declares, “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (CSB). Further, Scripture reminds us that God’s love was not a one-time deal; it continues throughout the ages.

As the Psalmist declared, “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:26 ESV).

Conclusion: The God Who Knows and Loves

1 Corinthians 2:6-12 English Standard Version

Wisdom from the Spirit

6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

Why did God send His Son into the affairs of mankind? Why did God choose to make the way of salvation so simple? Why did God choose to call us to simply trust in Him? Why did God prove his commitment, understanding, and love for us up front, rather than requiring us to “go first”? He desired to be known.

Because He is both the God who knows and deeply desires to be known and made known among us and the God who loves. The call to trust Him brings us inescapably face-to-face with the reality of knowing and loving Him in return.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9 ESV)

In a 21st century sense, being Christian with an Isaiah 55:6-9 mindset is not unlike, solely for the sake of God’s glory, edifying God’s Kingdom, inserting ourselves and our thought processes squarely into this historical quote.

“We, who are the unwilling, led by the unknowing, who are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so very little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

― Konstantin Josef Jireček

Is that really what we want to pray for in these most unsearchable of times?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray, (if we dare ….)

Tender Shepherd, thank you for being so patient with me when I cannot fully understand and appreciate your holy and transcendent character. Thank you for sending Jesus so I can know you better and trust you to know me better than I know myself. I look forward to seeing you face to face when Jesus comes to bring me home. Until that day, please know I love you. In the name of Jesus, I offer all of my thoughts, thanks and praise. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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How To Test the Practical Reality of Your ‘Real’ and ‘Practical’ Religion. They Will Know We are Christians by Our (__________) James 1:26-27

An anthropologist once visited a primitive village in Western Africa to study the customs of the very primitive people who lived there. When he returned to the U.S., he sent back a sun dial to those people to express his real thanks for their practical cooperation. The natives were delighted with their gift, and they were concerned that nothing happen to it, so they immediately built a thatched roof over it to protect it. In so doing, however, they made it of no practical value.

The foolishness of this is obvious to us all, but James says the foolishness is not always obvious to Christian people when they do the very same thing with their religion. They will take it home after church on Sunday, and they hang it in the closet with their Sunday clothes, and there it stays until the next week. It is as worthless as a sun dial under a roof. James warns us that if our Christianity is not practical, and we only hear and do not do, then we are deceiving ourselves.

James 1:26-27 Easy-to-Read Version

The True Way to Worship God

26 You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. Your careless talk makes your offerings to God worthless. 27 The worship that God wants is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help and keeping yourself free from the world’s evil influence. This is the kind of worship that God accepts as pure and good.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

A Christianity that is not real or practical is not a real, practical Christianity. If it does not control your conduct, and it does not change your character, and make you more sensitive to the will of God and the world’s need, then you better stop and ask some very serious questions about the practical reality of your religion.

In these last two verses of chapter 1 James has a lesson for us on how to test the reality of our religion. If your religion does not really change you, then you had better change the practical applications of your religion. James implies there are three questions that we must be able to answer with a definite “yes” if we are to be confident that our religion is not vain, but of real and practical value to God, to the real world, and to our real and practical selves living in the “real” world.

The first question that grows out of what James says is-

I. AM I PRUDENT IN MY SPEECH? Verse 26.

James is saying in a different way what Jesus said when He made the statement, “It is not what goes into a man but what comes out of him that defiles him.”

Jesus was referring to the tongue just as James is.

The Bible makes it quite clear that one of the greatest responsibilities which men have is the wise use of their tongue.

Jesus said, “By your words you shall be justified and by your words you shall be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37)

A real Christian is one who does not say, “I have freedom of speech, and so I can use my tongue as I please.” A real and practical Christian – He is one who will freely present his body a living sacrifice unto God, and that includes his tongue. He is one who is truthful with his tongue, and practical and wise with his words.

A man who can go to church on Sunday and then curse on Monday and tell a few dirty stories at the office or plant on Monday is only deceiving himself, “for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

If that is what comes out of his mouth, we know his heart is filled with the language of the world and not that of the Word of God.

James is saying that the man’s religion is vain, and it has no real value to anyone. He is a double minded man who will receive nothing from the Lord.

It is amazing how many people are deceived at this point. Out of the very same mouth comes both sweet and bitter. I have known men who could talk about their church work, and of how they help the church in so many ways, and then a few minutes later hear them using filthy language and do so with no respect for others in their presence.

He thinks he is very religious, but James would say because he cannot bridle his tongue, he fails the test of real religion. A foul and filthy tongue characterized the ancient world, the Christians who were won out from this type of society had a difficult time in keeping their tongues committed to the glory of Christ.

This same problem exists today, where foul language is even very common in the public schools, in modern so-called movies, as well as the workplace. It is easy for the Christian to get caught up in the common expressions of the world and thereby cease to be different from the world.

This can totally ruin your real and practical testimony and witness, make your religious commitment of no real or practical value.

The Apostle Paul was concerned about this problem also, and he wrote to the followers at Colossians and said in 3:8-10,

“But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: Anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

This brings us to the basic idea that James is getting at. It has to do with the use of our tongue in relationship to other Christians. When Paul says we are to put away anger, wrath, malice, and lie not to one another, he is saying what James means when he says we must bridle our tongue.

William Penn put it this way: “Men who fight about religion have no religion to fight about.”

We mentioned before that the Christians to whom James is writing were caught up in a great deal of real religious controversy. And real unbridled tongue could cause much damage. A tongue not under the control of reason and the Holy Spirit will race wildly across the field of a man’s character, kicking, bucking, and trampling it without pity, and the result will be a real victory for Satan.

Most all great men of God suffer much sorrow because of the severe criticism they receive from Christians. The speed with which Christians are ready to blast out at other Christians is the speed by which they make themselves useless to God, the world, themselves. All the good a person may do vanishes rapidly when the tongue is filled with malice and contempt for a brother or sister in Christ.

A critical and malicious tongue is a sign of self-righteousness. When a Christian becomes satisfied with his own attainment, he really tends to become critical of others. He feels if only others could be as wonderful as he is the church could get somewhere.

So, he builds a fence around his religion to protect it. He becomes narrow and bigoted, and he sets out to straighten the world according to his standard. The end result is that he does more harm than good, and his religion is as worthless as a sun dial covered over by a thatched hut without the sun and its real light.

He is trying to be a Christian without the spirit of Christ. There are many more areas where the unbridle tongue is a curse. It is clear what James is getting at, and we must be able to say that we are aware of the power of the tongue, and that we will strive to use its power according to the will of God.

If we cannot say that we had better, ask God really quick to forgive us and help us to gain the victory in this area, or our life will count for practically nothing in the kingdom of God. We may still be saved by faith in Christ, but it will be sad that all of our works will be consumed by fire, for they will not stand the test.

The second question is

II. AM I PRACTICAL IN MY SERVICE? v. 27

Before we can answer this question, we must understand what James means by religion. This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. Many have used it to deny the basic truths of Christianity itself.

They say that religion is really and practically about our real, and practical good works, and so we can start an orphan or widow’s home, or do social work for the needy and widows, and we will get to heaven according to the Bible.

But though this seems to be logically based on this verse, we know it contradicts the rest of the Bible, and the rest of the letter of James itself. Realize, there is no salvation apart from faith in Christ.

James knows that, and in Chapter 2 verse 1 he speaks of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Chapter 1:1, he is the servant, and all through the chapter he stresses prayer and the Word of God which is able to save souls. Why is all this left out when he tells us what pure religion is? We would expect him to include all these fundamental truths.

The problem is not with James, but with our context and with our language.

The practical words that James used really meant “The external service of God, and not one’s inner state before God.”

I believe James here is referring to the real and practical results of our faith in Christ, prayer, and fellowship with Christ. He is saying that if these things are real, we will be able to know it because it will show itself in our practical service. True religion is not seen in ritual observance but is deeply inside our real trust of our Savior Jesus and inside our own practical obedience to the Word of God.

What James is saying can be illustrated by really saying the same thing about a mother’s love. If I said, “Pure motherly love and undefiled before God is to wash and feed her child.” I would not mean by this that love is merely a matter of keeping a child clean and fed. I would mean that if the love of a mother is real it would show itself in a practical way in her care for her child’s basic need.

This is not the whole of love, but it is the practical result that proves the love is real. So, to really have a sympathetic concern for human need is not the whole of being a Christian, but it is the real and practical result that must be seen to know that the vital factor of faith in Christ is real.

In other words, being real and practical and good will show itself in doing good. As John said, if you can see a brother in real need and have no real compassion, how does the love of God dwell in you?

The world was filled with impractical religion then, and it always has been.

Christianity is the only pure and undefiled religion, for if God’s Word is obeyed and put into practice it will lead to the compassion of God, which, in turn, leads to vital service that makes a difference in this world of endless needs. People can come to a temple offer sacrifices, burn incense, bow and pray, and lay in “real and true” submission before God, or go through any number of practices of ritualistic religion, but if they do not go out and serve God in a real practical manner, all of this is vain and worthless.

Masses of people think they are religious because of their ritual before God, but they never show the compassion of God in the real world. Here, James says that if there is no real and practical service that grows out of one’s religion, it is not the Christian religion, but is instead a really cheap and impractical imitation.

The particular examples that James used to illustrate Christian service are the two that are used all through the Bible. In the ancient world the orphans and widows were the subjects of great injustice. There were no orphan homes, and no social security to help widows. They were often at the mercy of anyone who sought to do them harm or take their property by any means necessary.

Jesus sharply rebuked all the Pharisees who thought of themselves as the most religious of persons. He said, “Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a (real) pretense make long prayers.” (Matthew. 23:14). This was a long-time practice, and they were blind to how really inconsistent it was with the nature of God.

It is really amazing to me how often people in the Old Testament had to be commanded, reminded, not to oppress the widows and the fatherless. They were constant victims of an ungodly world.

One of the characteristics that God proclaims of Himself over and over is His concern for the orphans and widows.

In Deuteronomy. 10:17-18, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow….”

Keep in mind that James was the brother of Jesus, and his mother Mary was a widow. Joseph died leaving her to raise her family as a single parent. James was using the most common examples of human need in the world of his day.

He does not limit Christian compassion to these examples, but he uses them to illustrate that a religion that does nothing to help the needs of those who are in need of help is not any religion but can be called Christian. Throughout history, real Christians have been shown the greatest source of compassion in history.

 If we keep our “real and practical” Christianity a matter of theology, feelings, and ideas, and never get “genuinely real and genuinely practical,” we are not real nor practical nor spiritual from God’s point of view.

We have looked at two test questions:

Are we prudent in our speech and are we practical in our service? If we can say yes to the first, but not to the second, our religion is not realistic enough to even minimally please God. And if we can say yes to both, but not to the third, we are still seriously and severely and catastrophically falling short of the glory of God,

and the third test is this-

III. AM I PURE IN MYSELF? v. 27.

To make our real religion practical we have to get out into the world to meet its needs, but James wants to make it clear we must be in the world but not of it. In other words, don’t become contaminated by the world as you seek to lift it. This means we need a constant reliance upon God.

The sacrifices of the Old Testament were to be without spot or blemish, and so in the New Testament we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable and without blemish unto God. The only way we can keep from being spotted by the world is by a careful walk and constant confession.

The Christian who is careless about the purity of his or her life has not quite understood the price that was paid to redeem him from the present evil world. There is a lack of realism in his and her religion, and it does not ring true.

The only one who can ever lift the world is the one who is above it. This does not mean to shut self-off from the world, but, like Christ, to be so busy doing good there is no time to get involved with the real world on its level of corruption.

As Phillips Brooks said, “The life of Christ was like an open stream that keeps the sea from flowing up into it by the eager force with which it flows down into the sea.” What a real masterpiece of what the practical Christian life should be-a real stream of practical activity flowing into the ocean of the world’s needs with none of the salinity of the world’s ocean waters getting near or into the stream.

True purity is gained by being “real” and genuinely positive, and not by doing nothing so as to avoid doing wrong. He who stays pure by doing nothing is evil, nonetheless, for he is a hearer and not a doer, and only deceives himself if he thinks he pleases God. God demands of us all a positive and practical purity.

We have asked three questions: Am I prudent in my speech? Am I practical in my service? Am I pure in myself? These questions test the reality of our religion. If we pass this test, it means we represent the only religion that is from above.

God does not and will not ever lower his standard to fit man. He promises His grace and power to help them grow to His standard if they hunger and thirst after His righteousness. We could never fully reach that standard. Christ was the only perfect Christian. Paul never attained it, but he kept pressing on.

All of us, without one exception, are, and will forever remain really imperfect and impractical Christians, but if our life is a constant striving to be able to say yes to the three questions we have looked at, we are real Christians, and we are practical Christians, and our religion is really, genuinely pleasing to our Lord.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Father, my Guide and Guardian, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my real actions (Acts 3:1-10) consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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A Thousand Hallelujah’s, A Thousand Thousand More for My God in Whom is my Dwelling Place, Whom I Trust!!!

We cannot trust a person until we know him or her. It is the same with God too. How well do you actually know God and how well do you genuinely know God? How have you experienced God working in you through those difficult places? Do you 100% believe there is even a 0.1% chance of breakthrough in your life? I pray you will come to find out the truth of “breakthrough!” This devotional will throw light on knowing and trusting God through all the situations of our life.

Psalm 91:1-2 New American Standard Bible

Security of One Who Trusts in the Lord.

91 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

For those of us who were born and brought up in Christian homes, Psalm 91 is a familiar one, which many of us may have read or even memorized as a child. Nonetheless, in this devotional we will explore as to what it means to trust in God as the Psalmist declared about God in the above-mentioned verse.

Truth be Revealed, we will only truly trust a person only when we get to know him or her. It is the same with God, we can trust Him only when we know who He is, and only when we are able to comprehend His divine attributes. When Jesus lived here on earth, he chose twelve men to be His disciples. A closer look at their lives will perhaps help us understand why they decided to trust in Jesus.

1. Peter, the fisherman

Peter was a fisherman by profession, but the day he met Jesus who filled his empty nets with a miraculous and bountiful catch, Peter chose to follow and trust Jesus immediately without any hesitation. The reason Peter gave up his livelihood which included his boat and nets to follow after Jesus, was because Peter instantly trusted Jesus. Peter believed that if he made Jesus his Master, He would take care of him, and provide him with all that he ever needed.

2. Matthew, the tax collector

Levi/Matthew who was another disciple, was a tax collector for the Roman government. Matthew always sought to align himself with the powerful and when he heard the call of Jesus, he understood that Jesus was much greater than the Roman Government that he was working for. So, at the call of Jesus, he too surrendered his riches and left everything as it was and followed after Jesus.

Every disciple of Jesus who followed Him did so because they curious what might be waiting if they trusted Him, as a result heeded His call to follow Him.

We too have at some point in our life must make a decision to trust someone. I am not an island; you are not an island unto ourselves. To get through this life feeling as though we are not and never were alone, and never have to be alone, we must (timidly) step forth in faith, baby-steps to trust on at least one front. Humanity is too likely to repeatedly let us down, serving their own interests,

We look to the examples set forth by God through His Scriptures to follow Jesus and to be “hip to hip” alongside His disciples. The point that each of us need to ponder is whether we have learnt to completely trust Him in all circumstances.

Trusting Jesus through the storms

We read in Matthew 8:23-24 (NRSV), “23 And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.

Some of the disciples of Jesus who accompanied Him on the boat that day were seasoned fishermen who had probably encountered many fierce storms in the very same sea. Strangely, the storm that challenged them that day seemed to be unlike any that they had seen before. The winds were so fierce and the waves so boisterous that they were quickly overwhelmed with the fear of sudden death. In the midst of such a raging storm, Jesus was fast asleep in that same boat.

When the disciples set out with Jesus, they got into the boat following Jesus.

We read in Matthew 8:23 that the disciples simply did so because Jesus went on board a fishing boat. When the storm raged on with intensity, and threatened their very lives, they might have wondered if they did the right thing to follow Jesus into that boat. They had probably decided to follow Jesus with hope that they would have absolute safety and personal security, no storms whatsoever.

But the storm they encountered, proved to be contradictory to their belief.

There may be those who are stressed out with such incredible hardships and are praying, wondering as to why the Lord has not intervened or revealed Himself, to somehow, in some way ease or even miraculously eliminate their situation.

Do keep in mind that we have a God who is altogether trustworthy. Our many difficulties might make us speculate if we made the right decision to follow Jesus. Our Savior Jesus wants to assure such people that there is no need to be perturbed, for the Lord is with us all the time.

For others who might pontificate that they are weak in their faith, let us be comforted that even the disciples of Jesus, who were with Him, and saw all the wonders He performed, were completely perplexed in the midst of that storm.

We read in Matthew 8:25 (NRSV), “25 And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

Jesus and the disciples were all in the exact same boat, but the way they each addressed Jesus was as if He were somewhere else, and not with them in their crisis. That is why they said to Jesus, “Master, save us, we are drowning!”

What they failed to realize was that Jesus was in their boat, and as long as He was there, there would be no way that their boat would drown, and they would not die without fulfilling their life’s mission. Jesus woke up, got up and ordered the winds “to be still,” the waves “to be still,” they immediately calmed down.

In the midst of our fears, let us say along with the Psalmist, ‘my God, in whom I (with maximum possible confidence) trust’ for when we affirm this over and over again, our faith will “grow up,” and our hearts will be filled with courage.

We read in Psalm 107:1-3 (NRSV),

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Many Troubles

1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.[a]

This is the word of steadfast and immovable encouragement from the Lord that we should trust Him completely in all life’s situations for all our breakthroughs.

The truths which are so intricately intertwined within this beautiful Psalm 91 are precious promises that every one of God’s blood-bought children are able to claim as their own. However, the majority of theologians correctly identify this section as a Messianic psalm… for our Lord and Savior Jesus is the only One Who truly dwells in the shelter of the Most High. He is the Man of men, Who abides forever in the shadow of the Almighty.

When the eternal Son of God was born into His own creation as the perfect Son of Man, He lived His life dwelling in the shelter of the Most High God. He abodes in the shadow of the Almighty.

He depended entirely on the Father as His refuge, strength and fortress and demonstrated to us all how a man should live – by trusting God in all things.

In many respects, the Lord Jesus is the only Man Who can legitimately claim God as His refuge and fortress – His God in Whom He trusted implicitly. But praise God that even when we fail, “GOD IS still our refuge and our strength,” because of our position IN Christ.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus is the one and the only Person Who could honestly claim God as His refuge and fortress – and He did this on our account because He went to the Cross for us – in obedience to His Father’s will.

Ephesians 2:8-10 We who are saved by grace through faith, find our everlasting refuge in Christ, Who took the ultimate punishment for our sin and became our strong Fortress, strength, our everlasting Refuge, and the Rock of our salvation.

Jesus is the only One who can legitimately confess that the Lord is My God, in Whom I place my trust, and Who will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and the deadly pestilence.

Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus was hidden under the shadow of His Father’s wings, in Whom He sought ultimate refuge. God was His hiding place Who preserved Him from all trouble, and because we are IN Christ, we can also sing songs of deliverance for God’s faithfulness and favour towards us. We can also claim and trust our God to be our mighty Shield and an eternal Bulwark.

Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus maintained ongoing and never-failing fellowship with His Father. He only did the things which He heard from His Father. He only did those things that He saw His Father doing.

Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was ready and willing to say, “Thy Will, not Mine be done.” He was 100% able to trust the Lord with every circumstance of His life, for His undivided hope was in God.

Jesus was free from every fear because His trust was in God, and in the power of the Almighty, He fulfilled all righteousness and became qualified to become the perfect, sinless sacrifice for the sake of mankind.

And we are called to imitate the way He lived. We are to hide under the shadow of His wings every moment of the day and say to Him – You are my Refuge and Fortress. You are my God, in Whom I trust.

Although the Lord Jesus was fully God, in full trust, he literally surrendered all He was and had. He lived His entire life as a Man. He lived His life and faced His death in utter and total dependence upon His heavenly Father for everything.

Although the Lord Jesus was the eternal God, He lived His life as a perfect Man, setting an example to every member of the human race… showing every child of God how our heavenly Father expects each one of us to live. 

Can there be any doubt left that the man who penned this Messianic psalm was himself absolutely convinced of the wonderful security that is found in the Lord his God because his faith was credited to him as righteousness, and he could legitimately confess that his trust was in the Most High God – the Almighty King of all Creation Who is a thousand times a thousand times magnified as the Sovereign Ruler of all, the Divine Protector of those that believe on His name.

But the psalmist was inspired to write words that would look forward to the God-Man, Who was wounded for our transgressions and bore the sin of the world on His shoulders, so that all who trust in Him can identify with His death, burial, and resurrection to a new life, and state confidently 100%, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘You are my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

O Lord, my God, I am here to say thank you that your work is perfect, your ways are 100% just, you are a God of faithfulness. You have said that in all things at all times, you will supply all that I need. Please help me to trust in your power to bring breakthroughs in situations where I cannot find a solution. Be exalted far above me and far above the heavens, O Savior God. Let Your glory be above all the earth. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Search Me, O God, Know My Heart!!! Examine Me and Know my Thoughts! More Time with God. Psalms 139:23

Well, I hope we have decided that we will sit in God’s witness chair and let Him have free reign and ask whatever question He wants. And we have decided we are going to give Him all the answers He requires into the depths with which he needs. The questions will undoubtedly be tough and probing and quite rigorous. This questioning will by no means be comfortable – nor is it ever meant to be so for our sakes. Who knows how long we’ll be sitting there, how many questions we will be barraged by? But we have chosen to stay seated in the witness seat.

The question is … Why should we willingly stay seated for such in-depth times.

Psalm 139:23-24 New Revised Standard Version

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked[a] way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.[b]

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Psalm 139 begins with David’s acknowledgement that God has “examined” his heart. The Lord knows everything about him (Ps. 139:1). Nothing about David or his life can be hidden from God, who knows even what David will say before he says it (Ps. 139:4). If he tried to escape from the Lord, in every place God would be present (Ps. 139:7-13). In fact, God knew David even in his mother’s womb as he knit him together wonderfully (Ps. 139:13-16).

The first eighteen verses of Psalm 139 celebrate the Lord’s intimate knowledge of David. Verse 19 changes the subject abruptly: “O God, if only you would destroy the wicked! Get out of my life, you murderers!” (Ps. 139:19). It’s as if the memory of those who sought David’s life interrupted his celebration of God’s presence and filled his heart with a sudden rush, hatred for his enemies.

Then Psalm 139 takes another unexpected turn, concluding with a prayer for the Lord to examine David’s heart: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life” (Ps. 139:23-24). Perhaps David realized that his hatred exceeded an appropriate zeal for justice, love for God.

Perhaps he remembered that, like his enemies, he himself had done things that badly dishonored the Lord. So, he invited God to search him and reveal anything offensive. “Put me in your witness chair! O God of my salvation!!!” The implied understanding is that David would repent of those sins in order that God might “examine [him] lead [him] along the path of everlasting life” (Ps. 139:24).

With a reluctant heart I confess I need God to search me in this way. Don’t you? Though a part of me resists dealing with what is wrong in my heart, I know that I need to see my sin as God sees it, so that I might confess and be forgiven, and so that I might find hope, turn from my sin to follow the Lord more completely.

The great unknown from sitting in His witness chair. How does God reveal my sin to me? In many ways: through reading Scripture, through hearing the Word of God preached, through the challenging love of friends, and through the still small voice of the Spirit. In asking God to search me, I am inviting him also to open my heart so that I might receive the conviction of his Spirit. I am saying, “Go ahead! Point out anything in me that offends you, and I will listen to you!”

David’s “disquieting thoughts” are those thoughts that caused him to become troubled, or anxious. Again, the challenge is whether we are at peace with our thought life. When the light of God’s truth is shone upon our lives, do we or do we not squirm and hide, or do we or do we not stand up with confidence? Do we or do we not want our sin to be illuminated by our Heavenly Father, so He might lead us away from that path to the eternal path? Or do we or do we not want to hide our sin away from God, and protect it from the Lord’s cleansing grace?

The challenge of Psalm 139? We need to be willing to let go of all that disquiets us–every sinful thought, desire, and motive. Our chief desire is not only to have a blameless reputation before men, but more importantly, to have a character that glorifies God in its reflection of His goodness and purity. This requires us exposing ourselves to His refining fire, allowing Him to search out our hearts and draw out of us the remaining sin in our lives. It won’t be pleasant, but it’s necessary if we are to be sanctified and useful unto the Lord in His kingdom.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Can I really be ready? Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee ….

Search my heart, O God! Take my life and let it be, consecrated unto thee ….

Ask any question, O God! Take my life and let it be, consecrated unto thee ….

Ask all questions, O God! Take my life and let it be, consecrated unto thee ….

I am fearful an anxious but, go right on ahead and ask your questions anyway!

Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to thee ….

Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.

2. Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

3. Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

Take your place upon God’s witness stand …. contemplate His questions ….

Have there been times in your life when God has revealed things to you that were hard, but essential, for you to hear? What helps you to attend to the all- convicting voice of God’s Spirit? Are you ready for God to point out anything in your life that offends him? What might help you to get ready, if you’re not?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

O Lord my God, my eternal Father, thank you that you are my ever-present help in times of trouble. Help me to trust in what is unseen. Remind me of the truth of your power, that you surround me, and you are fighting for me. Never give up on me! Give me favor and breakthrough in my life. You are the Sovereign King of all ages, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. To you be honor and glory forever and ever.  Through Jesus Christ, our Savior, Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“Search Me, O’ God! Put Me upon thy Witness Stand! Go Ahead, God, Cross Examine my Life!” Psalms 139:23-24

Relationships take time. And as time passes, as growth takes place, as maturity enters in, we can decide whether we want to go to the next level with a person and eventually, “safely” come to that uniquely “safe” place, open up to them.

This doesn’t have to be a husband or wife thing. It applies to every relationship.

Hopefully, over a period of time, we will all have someone we can safely tell our deepest, most sensitive secrets to. Someone we know can keep our confidence.

Such friends like these seem to know when there is something wrong with us, even when others don’t. They have been our friends for so long they can sense our mood, they can sense our innermost thoughts without even talking to us.

With an acquaintance, it’s different. We might tell them a little about our life, but we usually keep them from knowing all of the good stuff going on within us. We establish “safe zones,” weave our safety nets, protect ourselves and them.

Ironically, we will sometimes try to weave our “safety nets” underneath Jesus.

The further irony becomes our lack of awareness, God does know us. We cannot pretend we are something we are not with him. He knows us — inside and out, through and through. Ironically such knowledge as that should liberate us to share a remarkable degree of intimacy with him, but most of us run away from such a close relationship with our Father. Do we really want such a connection?

We declare to ourselves that it is no longer “safe” to be either around God. Yet, IF our “sincerest” “safest” desire, is to indeed become more like him, the only way to be transformed is by “risking our personal safety,” inviting him in to unceremoniously cross-examine all our hearts, our motivations, our desires!

Are we really, actually, genuinely, ready to risk such an “unsafe” eventuality?

I am not so sure we are if we were to seriously examine what God is saying here.

Psalm 139:23-24The Message

23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Standing Toe to Toe with God … (Job Chapter 19) (Psalm 13 NRSV)

Standing Face to Face with God …. (Psalm 27:7-11 NRSV) (Jonah 1 – 2 NRSV)

“Investigate my life, O God,”

(What!?! Wait a Minute! Cringing and cowering)

“Find out EVERYTHING about me; “

(“Hold on, there … STOP!” Cringing, and cowering and gasping)

“Cross – Examine AND Test me,”

(“You mean put me on the witness stand? I was only joking around!”)

“Get a clear picture of what I am about”

(You mean me raising my right hand, making me swear an oath on a Bible?)

“See for yourself whether I have done anything ‘wrong’ ….”

(“I mean, you are actually taking me super-duper serious, right now, God?)

THEN and ONLY then, if there is anything left of me worthy enough,

(Me and my big mouth have always gotten me into a whole lot of serious trouble, but I would never, ever even remotely imagine anything like this!)

“Then Guide Me on the Road to Eternal life ….”

(“On second thought, maybe, just maybe it might all be worth it after all!”)

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray (“Yes! Lord! Absolutely? or Nope! No Way! No How! or …?”)

Take My Life, and Let It Be by Frances R. Havergal, 1836-1879

1. Take my life, and let it be
consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee.

2. Take my voice, and let me sing
always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold;
not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use
every power as thou shalt choose.

3. Take my will, and make it thine;
it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour
at thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for thee.

See you all tomorrow – (I HOPE!?!) (MAYBE!?!)

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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Seeing Yourself Through the Eyes of God? – Remember! One Passion! One Devotion! One Love! Exactly One God!

The world is all too often a hostile place for believers. Goliaths no longer try to hide themselves from public view or from public judgement. They stand tall in their perceived invulnerability; surround, abound around every street corner. Goliath says, “you cannot touch me! “You cannot beat me!” “You are nothing!” We are intimidated by the sheer force of their size, their strength, their words. We shake and we quake in our boots – too easily accept unconditional defeat!

God wants his spiritual children to know, however, that they are not alone. He lives in us with His Son, our Savior Jesus, through his Spirit. We can be assured, therefore, that no matter what evil design someone else may have, the Holy Spirit of God is greater, more powerful, and more glorious. The victory is ours because God’s presence in us is infinitely greater than any force we will ever face. We have our victory assured over all forces, powers, spirits, or opponents.

The Question remains to be answered – if we are to claim such an overwhelming victory through God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, if we are to claim it and own it and possess it as the greatest gift, treasure, there is, to fully live into everything God has set aside for those who believe and conquered, then whose eyes do we look through whose perspective do we make all our own?

Our perspective through our finite eyes and limited wisdom and understanding?

Defined by our shame? Our Guilt? Our brokenness? Our weaknesses? Mistakes? Someone else’s opinion thrust upon us by those rampaging, ranting Goliaths?

God’s perspective through God’s eyes, knowledge and wisdom? (Psalm 139)

1 John 4:4-6 Authorized (King James) Version

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore, speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Whether we like it or not, or realize, admit it or not, in our humanity, we are finite. We have a beginning; we have an end. It is the natural flow of our lives and is seen in everything from a good day’s work to a bedtime story for our kids. But when we brush up against eternity, we find that it has neither beginning, nor an ending. It always was, and it always will be. Such is the nature of love.

Scripture tells us in 1 John 4 that God is love. Therefore, since we know that God is eternal, we can reasonably assume that God’s love is also eternal. Love begins and love ends with God. But God is not stingy with this love. He longs to share Himself with every person on the face of the earth, and the tangible expression of that love is His Church, redeemed by the blood of His Son, our Savior, Jesus.

When you and I go to the source of love and find that we are indeed beloved by the God of the universe, it changes everything. Once our hearts are filled with His love and truth, we are given new eyes for others, and can’t help but want to share the priceless treasure we have found!

In his groundbreaking book, The Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World, Henri Nouwen says this,

“When we claim and constantly reclaim the truth of being the chosen ones, we soon discover within ourselves a deep desire to reveal to others their own chosenness. Instead of making us feel that we are better, more precious or valuable than others, our awareness of being chosen opens our eyes to the chosenness of others. That is the great joy of being chosen: the discovery that others are chosen as well. In the house of God there are many mansions. There is a place for everyone – a unique, special place. Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.”

Whatever you and I are facing in life, or whatever is coming in your future, God has already given you the steadfast faith, the living hope and deepest love for it. It may not look like it now, and you may not feel like you have what it takes to overcome, but faith in God is never based on our circumstances or how we feel.

The enemy would like for you to believe that you don’t have a chance in life, that you’re a loser, too weak, too poor, too whatever. But God has a different perspective of you (Psalm 139). God sees you through the eyes of love. He sees not what you can be, but what He has invested in you, not what you or others may see from the egregiously limited perspective we have “worldly” learned.

Seeing yourself the way God sees you leads to a life of overwhelming victory. Living into that vision God has always had of us offers to us many challenges.

But it takes faith. You can’t just hear that God loves you and sees you as His child, you have to believe it. It takes faith to move forward and overcome the challenges of life. And faith does you no good if you don’t know how to release it, how to unleash it. You have to release your 100% faith in order for it to work.

We release faith through our words, actions and, of course, through prayer. It’s up to us to act.

1 John 4:4 is a scripture we quote a lot, and almost anytime I say this verse in a church or meeting, everybody claps and cheers. But how many people really do believe these words; “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world?”

The truth is, the One in you is greater and He loves you. So, stretch your faith today, stretch your hopes today and stretch your love today and see yourself the exact way God sees you. It doesn’t matter what the enemy wants you to see or how things might look. Our faith overcomes through the One who lives in us!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Father, my Guide, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my actions consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“Sweet Hour of Prayer! Sweet Hour of Prayer, that Calls Me from a World of Care. Bids me at my Father’s Throne, make all my Wants, Wishes Known.” Giving God His Due!!! Philippians 4:7

God so much wants to hear our prayers. But to keep them from becoming too self-focused, God wants us to always remember to give thanks. It is so easy for us to turn prayer into a request line. We are the ones who are left bereft when thanksgiving and praise are robbed from our prayers. Without praise our hearts grow dim because all we think about are problems and prayers become a long and tiresome, boring, tedious wish list without any meaningful visible ending.

The question comes to mind – when do we begin to remove ourselves from our own life’s equation, which we worry about too much, and then let God be God? We do not want our lives governed by ourselves and our fascination with idols called “worry, anxiety.” We want to discard all of them as “yesterday’s news.” But when we try to do that, we almost immediately pick them right back up!!!

We pray to God – “As a deer pants for the waters, so my soul longs for you!”

Then what comes almost immediately after praying – WORRY God will not be on the job and our prayers will fail to meet our standards of acceptance, action. God will not act immediately enough for us, and the worry will go marching on. We will always rationalize significant rationales for worrying over our worries. It is coming to that place where we embrace more of God than we do ourselves.

John the Baptist kind of set the standard we all hope (and pray) to live by. He said in John 3:30 – He MUST increase, but I MUST decrease! Except, John does not give us any more advice, nor does he give us any instructional manuals. It is in this place of hyper-dramatic worrying over our worries we read Paul’s words.

Philippians 4:6-7 Amplified Bible

6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. 7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].

Philippians 4:6-7 The Message

6-7 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

This is one of the most comforting and encouraging texts in the Bible. Believers can always find renewed strength here. The wonderful Gospel truth is that God is present with us always. He is near to every believer every moment of every day and He knows exactly what we are going through – nothing is ever hidden.

Be anxious for nothing stands in contrast to worrying which reveal a lack of trust in God’s sovereignty and power. As believers, we need to realize that our confidence in life does not come from ourselves but from the all-powerful God of the universe. That is why Paul tells us not to worry about anything.

If we worry, we are basically testifying to our steadfast and immovable belief that God cannot handle our “stuff.”  By contrast we are to take everything to God in prayer and His peace will guard our hearts and minds. Believers, who stand firm in Christ, respond to trials, endure hardship with thankful prayer.

The man, Master Rabbi Jesus told the gathered crowds and His followers in the Sermon on the Mount. “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… Do not worry about tomorrow… (Matthew 6:25-34). What incredible news is this? We have a heavenly Father who loves us, cares for us, is able to help and support us – so why worry or be anxious?

But in everything by prayer and supplication. Paul emphasizes our great need to take all things without exception to God in prayer. As soon as we have a need or problem, we are not to try to take out a patent on it and get rich, we are to take it to the Lord in prayer. We present our requests to the Lord with trust, relying upon His assured and gracious provision to help all of us in our times of need.

Recall Abraham’s servant at the spring in Nahor asking for specific guidance in finding a bride for Isaac (Genesis 24:12-14), or Hezekiah spreading the letter of his enemy Senacharib before the Lord in the Temple (Isaiah 37:14-20).

With thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. The attitude we are to have when presenting our supplications to the Lord is one of thankfulness, 100% trusting Him for the answers that He will reveal to us through His Holy Spirit. God causes everything to work together for our good and His glory.

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

God will give us a peace far beyond our understanding that will guard our heart and mind as we endure and stand firm in the Lord.

1 Peter 5:10 says, “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.” 

Deuteronomy 31:6 reminds us that, “God will not leave us or forsake us.”

We can have this wonderful peace as believers.

God will answer our requests in His way and time, and God will give us His peace which surpasses all our comprehension. It is a peace that is greater than anything we could ever imagine.

It is a, immensely stable, securing factor that will give us rest in our sovereign Lord. “Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)

For us, right now, there needs to be daily reminders, through diligent, prudent, study of Scriptures, surrender, and a renewed commitment to the only One who guides us, protects us and keep us strong. Once we embrace peace with God, we can then go on to celebrate the peace of God, day by day. “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).

Living With God’s Story

In contrast to the franticness that can be seen in people living without a sense of God’s story in their lives, the followers of Jesus can live with a deep, lasting sense of peace.

Some of our stories actually start pretty badly, with broken families, bodies, and emotions that experience deep pain—and often terrible kinds of abuse.

Even so, we can still know that our Storyteller has promised to work everything out for good by the end of the story. And that means that if everything’s not yet all right, then we’re not yet at the end.

As we live in the part of the story between our own brokenness today and God’s story titled “you will live happily ever after, forever! Amen” someday, we can know, if we genuinely want to know, every chapter of our story will somehow serve the living purpose that God wrote into our lives from the very beginning.

When we live with a story like that, we are changed. Instead of feeling the cold desperation of worrying, scrambling every which direction for everything under the sun we want to but worry excessively we cannot ever have, we can relax.

Instead of trying nervously to achieve some success right now, we can allow God’s Holy Spirit to make us new over time. Because we know that the end of our story will be a good one, we can let God create his fruit in us: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23). And through it all, God’s peace envelops us and it surrounds us like a shield.

What kind of story are you living now?

Your “story”?

God’s “story”?

Give God His Due!

Give God the chance to be God ….

Sweet Hour of Prayer by William Walford, 1772-1850

1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
that calls me from a world of care,
and bids me at my Father’s throne
make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief,
and oft escaped the tempter’s snare
by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

2. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
the joys I feel, the bliss I share
of those whose anxious spirits burn
with strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
where God my Savior shows his face,
and gladly take my station there,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

3. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
thy wings shall my petition bear
to him whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
believe his word, and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my every care,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray with thanksgiving,

Father, teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your Holy Spirit lead me on level ground. I see your faithfulness and goodness in what you have done for me throughout my life. I think about these things, and I thirst for you. Let me hear of your unfailing love every morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Keep me on firm footing for the glory of your name. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

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“Actions Speak Louder than Words ” True or Not True? Are Deeds a Better Sign of Love Than Words? 1 John 3:18

A godly character that reflects the likeness of Christ, is one that loves others as Christ loved us. The love about which the Bible speaks, is different from every other type of human love, and is uniquely imparted to the child of God from the indwelling Spirit of truth and love. It is comparatively easy to love in word and tongue. It is reasonably simple to say, ‘I love you’ to other people, but the test of genuine love is expressed in-deed and in truth. It is much harder to actually do!

1 John 3:18-20 The Message

When We Practice Real Love

18-20 My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

True or False?

“Actions speak louder than words.”

“True or False?” “Actions speak louder than words!” These are very familiar questions and phrases and words you can and do hear from people who are in a relationship or are spoken from the hearts, mouths of people who expect other people’s affection and love. These are also the very words we will hear in our surroundings and the very thought preached in movies, books and fairytales. 

Good news is, it is not only preached in the movies we see or the books we read, but God also wants us to do this in actual practice. In our verses today, He is telling us to love not just in thoughts and words but with actions and in truth. 

The Bible is talking about so many types of love and this time God is referring to the love He gave to us— His agape love. Jesus Christ laid His own life for His friends and enemies. He sacrificed His life for us all, so we don’t have to receive God’s wrath. Therefore, it is just right and righteous for us all to do the same.

We are directed to lay down our lives to our brothers and sisters and sacrifice for them. However, though sometimes true, God does not want us to literally die for them, but He wants us to serve one another to the highest level. 

It is just very easy to say “I love you” to many people and to the people we hold most dear. It is easy to love in thoughts and in words, but the truest test of genuine love is expressed through our actions and in truth. Loving does not mean only expressing it through our feelings or words but through giving up ourselves in complete service for others, no matter what the cost is, may it be money, time, reputation, and everything we can offer. (John 19:30, Acts 3:1-10)

An act of true love should be like the love of Jesus. It is all about “dying to self” and “living in Christ”. The love of Jesus is the complete and perfect example of loving in deeds and in truth and as we receive this love, this will manifest in our lives, and we will be able to actually reveal it, genuinely show it to others too. 

To love in words and in thoughts means expressing how much we love that specific person, but it should be accompanied with actions and truth. It can never be true if it is without action. For our true love can only be found in our Savior Jesus, now, we can also give this love to others through Him. As the Bible said, this saving faith we have can produce good deeds. By Grace, we are saved through faith and with this it can produce good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Through this good work that is produced by our faith in Jesus Christ, it will mirror His love and we will be able to shine it onto others too. For in the book of Romans said that we are living sacrifices, and this is our true act of worship.

Therefore, as we worship the Lord, let us also become like Lady Wisdom people who have mirrored God’s love unto the people who have not known, nor have they seen yet what God has in store for their whole lives. (1 Corinthians 2:6-16)

However, let us always remember we can never do this no matter how hard we try. We can never give what we do not have, and we can never give this through our own finite stores of strength. So first, we must be able to recognize where this unconditional love came from and submit everything to Jesus and through this, we will, with continuous, continual practice, will soon be able to love the grand diversity of people around us not just in words but in actions and truth. 

Living in spirit, loving and moving in spirit, in truth, in-deed is a manifestation of someone who died from self-preservation nature has become made new in Christ. It is true evidence of someone who lives in Christ and abides with Him. 

Are Deeds a Better Sign of Love Than Words?

The same apostle who said, “Let us not love in word or talk but in-deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18), also recorded Jesus saying, “These things I speak . . . that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13), and “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

If the “speaking” of Jesus imparts joy, and the “words” of Jesus give spiritual life, then surely such speaking is love.

It has always troubled me that 1 John 3:18 could also easily be taken to imply that what we do with our mouths is a less real or less frequent form of love than what we do with our hands. “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in-deed and in truth.” It seems to me that we each have practical and biblical reasons for saying that the muscle of the tongue is much more frequently the instrument of true love than any other muscle throughout the entire body.

So, let’s step back and see what John is saying in 1 John 3:18 and to take some quality time to examine and discover what the wider witness of Scripture is.

Notice the context, the structure of his words, and what other witnesses say.

1. The Context

The preceding verses give us a clue what John means:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? (1 John 3:16–17)

Sometimes, as on an actual battlefield, in an actual combat situation, if it comes down to choosing your life over my life, and I take the bullet meant for someone else, and I am actually wounded or even killed, no demonstration of friendship, or exercise of truest love, could ever possibly be greater. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Then John draws out a principle of love which is more pervasive and less dramatic: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” In other words, true love not only gives its life for the loved ones, but also its goods.

This is what James was saying: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” (James 2:15–16). This is what John is criticizing: Saying, “Be warmed and be filled,” but giving no food and clothing when you have them to give?!? NO!

So, the first thing John has in mind is people who say they love others, but when it comes down to practical sacrifices, and actual and genuine acts of self-denial, they do not do them. That’s what John means by loving “in word or talk.” It’s not real, its only superficial lip service. Deeds of sacrifice validate words of love.

2. The Structure of His Words

But there are even more clues. You can’t see this one in the English translation, but the contrasting pairs of words (“word or talk” vs. “deed and truth”) are not exactly parallel. The first two are dative, and the second two are objects of the repeated preposition ‘en‘. Hence literally what is being said here is this: “Little children, let us not love by word or by talk but in-deed and in truth.”

The difference may be incidental. Or perhaps there is a sound theological reason for it: “Let us not think nor believe of love as only the actions of instruments like tongues and the guttural sounds, they make (words). Let us rather think and believe of love as a reality that is happening in our deeds and in truth.”

In other words, love can never be reduced to sounds (words) or muscle movements (whether the tongue or any other muscle). Rather, love is always something real within and beneath those actions. Something true.

That’s why Paul said, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love . . .” (1 Corinthians 13:3). Deeds by themselves are never love. Never. Love is “in” the deeds. So, John’s point is: Don’t identify love with words or tongue-acts. Love is deeper. It is active in muscle actions but is never identical with such instruments. The words, “in truth,” push the issue deeper.

But even more important than the grammar is the surprising contrast between “tongue” and “truth.” “Little children, let us not love by word or talk but in deed and in truth.” We expect the contrast between “word” and “deed.” But not “talk” and “truth.” We might have expected something like “not by talk but by hand.”

The simplest lesson to draw from this is: Don’t make loving promises with your tongue that don’t come true in actual “in the moment” reality. If you say you are going to come to help, come. The promise is encouraging, therefore loving. But encouragement dies when you don’t show up. Tell the truth. Love in truth.

A second lesson to draw from the contrast between tongue and truth is that truth itself is a wonderful gift. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Speaking the truth to others, whether they like it or not, is a great gift. “The words that I have spoken to you are . . . life” (John 6:63). That was true for Jesus and for the apostles: “Speak to the people all the words of this Life” (Acts 5:20).

Which means that when the tongue and its sounds (words) are “in truth,” they become acts of love. The line of lovelessness is not drawn between speaking and doing, but between speaking and doing in the truth, and speaking and doing in emptiness. Truth turns word-love into deed-love.

3. What Other Witnesses Say

The concern I raised at the beginning was that 1 John 3:18 could also be taken to imply that what we do with our mouths is a less real or less frequent form of love than what we do with our hands and feet. I don’t believe John was saying that.

Here is how real and frequent and important mouth-love is.

With the mouth everlasting joy is imparted:

“These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” (John 17:13)

With the mouth faith is awakened:

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

With the mouth courage imparts profitable things:

“I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable.” (Acts 20:20)

With the mouth blessing comes:

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. (Romans 12:14)

With the mouth grace is given:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up . . . that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29)

We will be judged according to our mouth-deeds as much as by our hand-deeds:

“On the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37)

Two Ways we tend to Get it Wrong

When John says, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth,” he does not diminish the reality or frequency or importance of loving with our words.

In fact, even though the most dramatic and decisive expression of love may be the deep sacrifices we make for those we love, two things remain true.

One is that there are sacrifices which have ulterior motives and are not real love (again, 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I deliver up my body to be burned . . .”). Love is not identical to deeds. Ever. It is always “in” the deeds, or not.

The other is, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34).

Therefore, the most frequent witness to the love of our hearts is what comes out of our mouths.

In this sense, our words are deeds. And God knows when they are true.

But let us never treat the mouth-deed or the hand-deed with neglect, or preference. Many fails as lovers by thinking they can replace words with deeds. And many fail, thinking words are enough. Rather let us always think: Both! Both word and work! Mouth-work and handwork! Both!

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. (Colossians 3:17)

I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience — by word and deed. (Romans 15:18)

May God . . . comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:16–17)

Living, Loving and actually moving forth in spirit, in word, in deed, and in truth is evidenced in, evidenced through, the life of one who has died to the self-life, abides in Christ, and is able to say with the apostle Paul, “It is not I that live my life, but Christ, whose life is in me and living through me.”

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that I am Your child and that Christ died to pay the price for my sin. Thank You that He rose again so that I could become a new creation in Christ, receiving my new life in Him. May the love of the Lord Jesus so flood and fill my being, that it not only flows out to others in thought and word, but in spirit, in truth, and in my every action and attitude. This I ask in Jesus’ name, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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Yes! There is Hope, Refreshment, Satisfaction, for our Weary Souls!

In the overwhelming, hair-raising, and the all too often depressing prophecies of God’s (weeping) Prophet Jeremiah, God repeatedly told his people he would destroy them for their obstinate and hardened hearts. Yet in the middle of these all powerful and scorching warnings, God also slips in passages that roar, that soar, that shouts out with God’s hope and grace, refreshment and satisfaction.

Can you think of anything more reassuring, more spiritually refreshing than God’s promise to “refresh the weary and (to) satisfy the faint”? For seventy years, that’s all Israel had — God’s promise. But when God’s time came, God “showed up!” made good on his word. I believe he will do the same for us all!

Jeremiah 31:25 Authorized (King James) Version

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.

Jeremiah 31:25 Holman Christian Standard Bible

25 for I satisfy the thirsty person and feed all those who are weak.”

Jeremiah 31:25 New Living Translation

25 For I have given rest to the weary and joy to the sorrowing.”

Jeremiah 31:25 Young’s Literal Translation

25 For I have satiated the weary soul, And every grieved soul I have filled.’

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Do you feel drained or spiritually empty? You know you’re saved, but you’re “bone weary and “soul tired” and discouraged with no perceived end to that continual state of weariness. What do we do when we want to serve the Lord with all of your heart, with all of your soul and all of your mind and with all of your strength, to just energetically live for only Him, but we’re weary and feel like there’s nothing left for us to give? The Word of God for the Children of God comes into remembrance, answers our question.  In Jeremiah 31:25, God says,

I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes. 

The only one who can truly satisfy our weary souls is the one who created them.

In chapter 31 of Jeremiah, Israel is promised refreshment and restoration and satisfaction. Even wandering in the wilderness, Israel experienced God’s grace. 

 “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore, with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” verse 3

With everlasting love, God draws us to Him. He can give our weary souls rest, and hope but only if we listen, come to Him. Verse 25 says I have replenished every sorrowful soul as if it is already done. All we ever need do is to accept. 

God has promised to heal our sun-parched and cracked lips, fill the cracks in our “dehydrated” hearts and lives with His goodness. Nothing can satiate us the way God’s love can. No amount of money, fame, or relationship can. Only God. 

Every hunger and longing we have that the world cannot fix, God can. 

For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.  Jeremiah 31:25 ESV

Looking up key words in a passage can help bring new meaning to the verse.

Satisfy – fulfill desire, expectation, need; to put an end to

Languishing – (languish) lacking in spirit or interest; indifferent

Replenish – to make full or complete again; to supply with fresh fuel

Using these definitions, reading and re-reading, studying, praying this Word of God, we can surely see how this verse comes alive with new meaning and depth.

For I will put an end to the weary soul and to every indifferent lacking soul I will supply fresh fuel.

The Septuagint, ancient Greek translation, reads thirsty and hungry rather than weary and sorrowful. 

The LORD is our refresher! 

Master Rabbi Jesus echoes this in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:3-6.

Are we poor in spirit? Are we indeed mourning? Are we hungry and thirsty for righteousness? If so, we can go to the ever-flowing river of Life in the LORD. We can drink deeply of His Word and Spirit. We can be refreshed, and our energy renewed to do what calling He places into our hearts. What a joy. What a God!

Reflect

God will supply with fresh fuel – a fresh word – when we are weary and worn down.  He will fill us! He will satisfy us completely, so we will lack for nothing.

Relate

Spending time with His Word is the way God will speak and fulfill a dry and worn-out spirit. We must discipline ourselves, make spending time with His word our highest priority. Continually dwelling in His Word and presence will help us prevent our souls being depleted and working inside our own strength.

WOW! So incredibly powerful!

AWESOME! So incredibly inspiring!

FINALLY! So hopeful, so hope-filled, so absolutely refreshing and satisfying!

In the name of God, The Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us refresh our souls through prayer,

Great Shepherd, I am bone tired and soul weary. Please refresh my Spirit and my body. Please help me find satisfaction in the abundance you have already so graciously shared with me. To you belongs all glory, honor, strength and power. I joyously submit my whole and entire self in faith, in hope, waiting for the rest and satisfaction you have promised. In Jesus’ name I pray. Alleluia! Amen.

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A Timely, Seasonal, Reflection on the Value of Self-Reflection. In Christ, is there Genuine “God-Esteem”? Acts 3:19.

When was the last time we caught ourselves straying from our daily walk with our Savior Jesus? Refreshing times come when we change our hearts and our lives to live for God alone and with God alone in our everyday lives! In fact, our Jesus has told us that he will reveal himself to us as we live obediently for him (see John 14:15-21). His home will be in us until he returns for us, and we get to enjoy the pen ultimate refreshment — our going home to be with him forever.

Acts 3:19-23 English Standard Version

19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. 22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia1 Amen.

Following the pages of social media as I try to do, I have noticed there has been quite the noticeable uptick in our interest regarding self-love and care. Being someone who has struggled with those things in the past, it has been refreshing to see and hear a renewed acceptance of valuing the health of our mental state.

Anything which promotes the wholeness of one’s mind and emotions further enables us to learn how to relate well with each other and encourage the people around us as people. There has long been a hard focus on physical health with a much smaller degree of focus on the mental and emotional health of a person.

It is somewhat relieving quite honestly, to feel okay about struggling in those areas where things “do not feel quite right” and to not feel as if there is also something inherently wrong with me and to feel alone with those feelings.

I don’t want what I am going to say next to contradict the above, but I do believe the world’s emphasis on self-esteem has become a little bit skewed in terms of the proper view. I know self-esteem is a great thing and we should continue to focus on improving all aspects of health regarding human beings, but I do also believe we have strayed a bit from the proper understanding of human beings.

One of my main points 0f contention with the modern understanding, application of so-called self-esteem boosting is we just forget that we are exactly “only human.”

By forgetting we are “only human”, one of the consequences is we are passing along false expectations of perfection being the goal of being a human.

While having an accurate view of our mental health and over-all well-being and steps which lead us to very serious decline and worse is imperative in caring for people, we also have to take serious safeguards against our passing along false expectations unto our future generations of them one day achieving perfection.

As success-oriented beings, we are always going to want to be “the very best we can be,” to accept losing and be winners and we are going to believe that to be anything less than this goal means we are not good enough yet. By continuing to encourage oneself towards self-improvement through self-esteem, we are in fact handing them the crutch upon which they will depend the rest of their life.

It is easy in our world to lose touch with the value of the inward man. Because we are an accomplishment “at all costs”- oriented society, it is hard to “rank” the inward man on those “by all means necessary” scales our culture deems the most important. Therefore, in order to feel “significant,” we focus too heavily on developing the outward things that give us “credibility” in the eyes of others.

Apostle Paul said the “outward man is always perishing.” No amount of our own “working on it” is going to change that. How sad then, it is to see people wanting to look “youthful” at every stage of their life. But, Paul, had a vastly different philosophy. He accepted the inescapable fact that the outward person is always going to be perishing, and the inward man is going to live forever.

But how exactly do we demonstrate that we value the inward man? How do we invest in that part of us which we know is most important? We have to reflect on what has been, assign what has been an appropriately critical value and work out with the inward man just what was essential to our living for Savior Jesus. We need to somehow connect with what is “rusting out and perishing” and lose them with a higher effort as we would lose our excess weight in a gymnasium.

Just as the outward parts of my body needs food, so the inward man needs food. The Bible clearly teaches me that the Word of God is that “super food.” As I approach this season of Lent 2022, when I begin to reflect back on myself, when I consider what my purpose in life is right this moment, there’s a part of me that does desire it to be something, someone who is glamorous and eternal.

I want my name to be remembered, not necessarily in a famous sense, but by the people with whom I have had a relationship. I don’t want to believe I was simply born to go to school, get a job, get married, retire, and then die. I want to steadfastly believe that I have somehow been God-gifted in this life to make an impact on this world and that people would know my name — maybe not in any famous sense but at least with the people whom I deeply care about the most.

For years, we will struggle with this internal battle of knowing the correct way, the politest, the safe and most-safest way, to view our lives and our stories.

I read in the Bible about how God has a plan for us and that we were created to live out our story according to God’s plans and purposes, but I also read about how we are fallen and sinful beings who couldn’t do anything on our own.

It always seems like my faith, your faith in God and His plan for my life, your life was in a constant and perpetual state of continuous opposition to the ideals of self-improvement and self-help the focus on self-esteem was telling me.

It seems like there were so many voices going on in our heads that all sounded right, and all felt right but seemed to be telling us vastly different things.

The same person could, on different days in vastly different scenarios, tell us that we need “devote more quality time” to believing in ourselves, that we are only sinful human beings who could only do anything because of God, and that we were knit together in our mother’s womb to do good in the world and that we had strengths/gifts that we were asked to reinvest in the people around us.

None of these three things ever seem to be or feel wrong to us and yet, they all still kinda serve to confuse our poor minds that already had an ironic tendency to view itself in an incredibly poor light. We want to be better, and we want to have a good self-esteem so as to not be so overly anxious or zealously worried over every little thing which exposes itself to our very limited field of vision.

But we also want to have an accurate view of total depravity and the necessity of God’s Holy Spirit in our lives. There are times where it seems right to believe that we could do some things, that we could improve our weaknesses and become a “better person.” There are other times where we feel we could not do anything worthwhile and that we had really had no impact on the world at all.

Being human, to me, does not mean that we are called to either be 100% perfect nor 100% useless. We are to have very positive self-esteem — to understand that we have value inherently as a human being and a member of this world.

But we are also to have God-esteem — to understand that we cannot live life on our own wisdom with our own worldview and that we can only live up to our full potential only through our glorifying God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This then, ought to inevitably lead us to the goal in life to not be doing all WE can to improve our weaknesses for OUR own sake but to know that these weaknesses, though weaknesses, are the areas in which our Creator God is going to interrupt us, then intercede into and go to work on the most within us.

As members of this modern-day 21st century world, we live in a culture which is hard driven by success and a desire for acceptance through success and thus, hard won perfection. We live in a contemporary world where there is an entire genre of online literature dedicated to self-help and the amount of pressure to be accepting and open-minded in regard to accepting people for who they are and how they perceive themselves is at, what may well be, an all-time high.

We as a diverse culture are moving into a world that is driven more and more by perception than it is driven by an absolute standard of success and failure. As with any movement, there are pros and cons as people feel more and more free to be themselves and less like they have to change themselves in order to fit in. With the diversity of social media and social circles increasing, there is more of a chance for people to feel (mis)understood, like they do/don’t fit into a group.

However, there are also negative consequences to the movement as well. While it is a good thing for people to feel understood, it may not always be healthy for them to not feel as if they don’t have weaknesses. As the world continues to tell more and more people more and more that they are okay just the way they are, they are also incongruently passing along the message there is likewise nothing wrong with them. We grant access to their perception of 100% invulnerability.

When I look at Dr. Luke’s writings from the Book of Acts, and Apostle Paul’s writing in the New Testament though, I don’t see this message at all though.

Instead, I see men who were very aware of their struggles, weaknesses, and had come to the understanding that though they aren’t things to be proud of, they are thoroughly humbled of the way God was still able to work through them.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 New American Standard Bible

A Thorn in the Flesh

7 Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to [a]torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! 8 concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. 9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast [b]about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I delight in weaknesses, in [c]insults, in distresses, in persecutions, in difficulties, in behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

In the forefront of my mind is the maturing fear that in this world where we are growing to accept “all” people “exactly as they are,” we are losing the truth we are all humans created by the hand of God, given His own breath for living our life and there are going to be areas in our life that we struggle and aren’t good enough. But these weaknesses are not something to be ashamed of, but rather, they are the areas through which God can work the very hardest and the most.

My goal then in life is to accept who I am: as a human, as a fallen being, as that singularly unique someone who has weaknesses and struggles. But I am also going to accept that I do have gifts, strengths, and can offer value to the world; not just through these areas where I am “good” but even more so through the areas where I’m weak as God uses them to glorify Himself, to edify all others.

We can remain open to accepting people as they are and meeting them where they’re at without losing the hope offered through the gospel and the 100% fact, we absolutely need 1000% of Him in order to reach our full potential here.

In essence, let us not be so focused on establishing self-esteem that we lose our God-esteem. We are, only by the grace of God, His beloved, imperfect, children.

When we acknowledge our sin, turn away from our sinful, immoral deeds, and turn ourselves over to our Savior Jesus, true refreshment can come to us. The Holy Spirit can, will bring us life that is fresh, new, clean, and full of purpose!

We can live knowing that Savior Jesus will return for us and bring us home to our Father. In the meantime, Jesus is still present and available to those of us who live for him as he pours his fresh grace and power into our lives.

No matter what we may have done — and whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be as bad as betraying and crucifying Jesus. When we come to Jesus as Lord, we are offered His mercy and we are forgiven, and our lives are redirected toward our future with Jesus as we live in each moment by his power and grace. We wait eagerly for the LORD God to send our “appointed Messiah” and Savior, Jesus!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us pray,

Abba Father, as I sit and reflect upon what has been for me, I am consciously turning my life over to you today. I ask for your forgiveness for any sin that I have committed. Please refresh me through a deeper awareness of Jesus’ lordship and presence in my life today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Alleluia! Amen.

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