Last week Phil and I visited The Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL. We’d heard good things about it and we weren’t disappointed. We both experienced an increase in our love for God that we can’t contribute to any specific attraction – it was the overall, cumulative experience that had the impact.
Worship & The Bible
We started with outdoor worship in the Temple Plaza. After that it was a combination of watching live plays and looking at static displays. The first display we walked through was The Scriptorium. Filled with authentic and ancient artifacts from around the world this display provides a history of how we got to the Bible we have today. What a new respect it gave me for the Word of God! Prior to walking through the exhibit I knew most of what was presented, but seeing the artifacts as we walked from room to room, time period to time period had a greater impact than studying in a classroom. Here’s a tidbit for you: Did you know that the first Bible printed in the United States was printed in the Algonquin language? That tells me that as a nation, we have in our origin – in our roots – a love for God and a heart to share that love with others. Yes, we have made a mess of it at times, but our roots are strong and good.
Live Shows
The live shows were excellent. Phil particularly liked the production Four Women Who Loved Jesus. The scenes occur while Jesus is on trial and four women are see what’s being done with Jesus and to testify for Him. The widow of Nain, the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years, the woman caught in the act of adultery and Mary bring their stories to life as they share with the audience why they loved Jesus so passionately. God’s mercy, forgiveness and love was expressed in a way that touched Phil’s heart. And if God is that merciful, forgiving and loving to these women, He is no less merciful, forgiving and loving to each of us today.
I am not a person who typically focuses on the passion of Christ. Yes, I saw the movie The Passion of the Christ, but I don’t need to see it again. I understand the horrific death that my Savior experienced for me. I don’t need to see it graphically portrayed over and over again. So I was not looking forward to the live show titled We Shall Behold Him. It is performed in two parts, and both had great impact. In the first location, we see bits and pieces from Jesus’ life, trial and crucifixion. What impressed me the most about this play was the authentic joy and grief on the faces of Jesus’ disciples. When He performed miracles, they raced through the audience in jubilation. As He died on the cross, they stood grief-stricken at a distance watching. The emotion brought the Bible to life for me in a new way. After the crucifixion, we moved to the Temple Plaza and Christ returns with great fanfare from angels, praising saints and a robe that fills the temple. I couldn’t stay seated as He slowly walked down the aisle and angels knelt before Him. What a glorious time it will be when we truly see Jesus!
Exhibits and Closing Worship
There were other exhibits, walking areas, praying areas, a restaurant, food stands and of course gift shops. One comment that Phil made was how refreshing it was to be in a Christian theme park. The vibe was definitely good! We spoke with someone who had worked there about three months. He said he loved his job, viewed it as a ministry and that he had led about fifteen people to Christ in the last three months. Hallelujah. Since coming home, I told a friend about the park and she had a cousin who had come to the Lord while visiting the park.
Closing worship and ministry time was excellent. The song from that time of worship that has been playing in our hearts and on our lips since we left (a week ago) is How He Loves Us.
Yep, I guess this is an ad for The Holy Land Experience. I do recommend a visit there, but there’s an underlying message in our experience: Pursue God. We don’t always know what will increase our love for the Lord, so open yourself to new experiences. Visit places you haven’t visited before, attend a service at a church other than your own, put yourself in a place to experience a different kind of prayer or worship experience. Any of these things can touch your heart in a new way and grow your love for God. And that’s a very good thing!
BTW: We didn’t see anywhere on their site that mentions it, but if you visit The Holy Land Experience and have ministerial credentials, go to the customer service window instead of the ticket windows and you’ll receive a discount on admission.
Yesterday I wrote about how blessed I was by Psalm 147. After writing the blog, I read Psalm 149 and found this similar verse:
For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with salvation.
Psalm 149:4 (NIV)
May we all humbly recognize our need for God as we close out 2011. When we come to Him in humility – recognizing His Lordship and asking Him to be Lord of our lives, He becomes not only Lord, but Savior. He crowns us with salvation. Hallelujah!
If you have never humbled yourself before God, admitting that you have chosen paths that were contrary to His will for you – that you have sinned against Him – I encourage you to do so today. He is the One who created you, who loves you more than you can possibly imagine, who has put in your heart a longing that only He can fill, and who longs to fill that desire. He will give you the Kingdom of God in this life and eternity in the next.
The Good News of the Gospel message is this: While we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standards (Romans 3:23), God has rescued us from the penalty of our sins. That penalty is death, but God’s gift to us is ETERNAL LIFE (Romans 6:23). The gift comes through the person Jesus Christ:
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
That’s my favorite verse in the Bible. While I was still in rebellion to God, He sent Christ to pay the price for my rebellion – to take my place in death. While I was still railing against Him and others who believed in Him. That’s love beyond the love I know.
Scripture makes it clear that it’s God’s love for me and His grace – His free gift to me – that saves me. It’s not anything I’ve done to earn His love or my salvation. It’s His free gift to me that I accept through faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
When we humble ourselves to admit that we cannot save ourselves and when we come into agreement with Scripture that we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, we can go to God in prayer and simply ask for Him to forgive us and to become Lord of our lives. At that point of humility, faith and trust, God crowns us with salvation – He saves us. Of course at that point, usually understand so little about faith and life with God. That’s OK. He understands us and takes that “childlike faith” and matures it and teaches us what it means to make Him Lord of our life. And what it means is a life that is so much richer than you can imagine. Jesus describes it this way:
My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.
John 10:10b (NLT)
Friends, if you have never trusted the Lord, if you have never received salvation from the only One who can give it, let me encourage you to do so today. There is no better way to begin 2012 than with new life!
Begin your new life with Him by reading His Word every day. Watch for our Resting at the River’s Edge reading schedule. We’ll post January’s schedule later today.
Praying God’s richest blessings for you and your family in 2012.
10His [God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of a man; 11the LORD delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Psalm 147
As I read this passage tonight, I was a bit taken aback. It says that God’s pleasure or delight is not in the characteristics of the things He has has created – the horse or man, for example. Rather, His pleasure and delight is in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.
I am utterly convinced that God takes great delight in me. He created me, just the way I am. He understands my weaknesses and doesn’t expect me to be someone I’m not. Simultaneously, He is always helping me become more than I am. And always, always, always, He is conforming me to the image of Christ.
There is no way in which I interpret this passage to mean that He takes no delight in me, who I am and what I do, even though that might seem what it says upon first reading it. You will find many places in Scripture where an exaggerated claim is made to make a point. In the book of Luke, Jesus said this:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:26
Did Jesus really mean that we’re to hate our father and mother, wife (or husband) and children, brothers and sisters? Isn’t this the same Jesus that said we’re to love our enemies and the same God who said we’re to honor our father and mother? Yes it is. In this passage Jesus is using a strong word to help us understand that being a disciple means putting God first in all things, even before our own life.
Our key passage uses a similar technique. It is not saying that God does not take delight in who we are and how we were made. He does. But what He really delights is those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love.
What does this mean to my every day life? It means that no matter how successful I’ve been on a given day, no matter how well put together I am or how well my words came together to communicate my thoughts and purposes and plans, no matter…God delights in my love for Him. And when things fall apart, I have the awesome opportunity to put my hope not in my disintegrating plans or my ability to put humpty together again, but in the Lord and His unfailing love. It is an awesome opportunity because it is at those times when we are challenged not to despair but to rejoice in God’s goodness. Trusting in the unfailing love of God when things go wrong (and when things go right) delights the Creator of the Universe.
We don’t do it for our gain, but what do you think are the consequences of delighting the Father? They are only good things. Trusting in God’s unfailing love is the bedrock foundation of peace and joy.
As we close out 2011 and look toward 2012, let’s covenant to trust God more. Let’s agree together to delight the Father.
…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Phil 1:6 (NIV)
I’ve been thinking quite a bit over the past week about a blog for the end of 2011 and/or the beginning of 2012. More accurately, I’ve been thinking I need to write such a blog…and I’ve had no idea what I might write.
Tonight I sat down to write a blog and it seemed to go in a different direction with each paragraph. Every paragraph was connected in my mind, but I was certain that there was little connection that actually made its way into written word.
As I paused to think about it, I realized it was the blog for the end of the year! (Thank You, Lord!) It’s a blog about the themes that God has been highlighting in my life over the past year – sort of a “year in review” of the “God-whispers” (more like shouts, actually) for 2011. So here we go.
Early in the year, God highlighted obedience by prompting our “Let’s be PC!” series. We haven’t exhausted the topics of obedience yet, so there may be additional installments in the series, but God was taking me back to basics. Obedience starts with the basics. As I look through my blogs over the past year, I see that obedience was a topic that came up again and again in many blogs that weren’t part of the Let’s be PC series. Lord, keep my heart inclined toward quick obedience!
During the spring, God began to impress upon me the need to believe and trust Him in a greater way – to actually live in faith. I am convinced that there is an underlying peace that comes from the confidence of knowing God is in control. I’m also convinced that living in faith puts us on the cutting edge with God…and I like that! I’m not always living it, but I’m sure working toward that goal. Lord remind me of Your power and presence throughout every day.
As spring turned to summer, God’s theme was praise – awesome, constant and glorious praise of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! I enjoyed it! In retrospect, we had an extremely busy summer with work and ministry. I know I was exhausted when it was over and I only went to the beach once. Yet what I remember most were the Friday Night Praises we planned and the singing of His praises throughout the week. Lord, You are worthy of our Praise! Hallelujah – Praise the Lord!
That praise theme turned into a theme of thanksgiving as we moved into the fall season. A blog I wrote three weeks ago haunts me. In The High Cost of Not Giving Thanks I quoted Romans 1:21.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.
Romans 1:21 (NLT)
I wrote in that blog that there is a direct connection between an ungrateful heart and a spiritual darkness that brings confusion and leads to foolish actions. I’ve discovered that an ungrateful heart stems from a self-focus that is inconsistent with all that God wants from me. The ungrateful heart makes everything all about me. Nothing is exactly as I want it to be so I won’t be satisfied with it. I so don’t want to live my life that way. Oh, Lord, keep me from having an ungrateful heart.
As I’ve reviewed the themes of 2011, I see a progression:
Living in obedience…
Increases our faith as we see God move in response to our obedience…
Which leads us to praise God for working in our lives…
Which leads us to thanksgiving!
Such a progression excites me…I want to be the person that lives in the continuing cycle of obedience, faith, praise and thanksgiving.
Reviewing the themes also reminds me that I have so much more to learn in each area. I wonder, which of these four areas do you need to focus on? I would love to improve in all of them.
I also wonder…where will God take us in 2012? What will our first theme be? How will the year progress?
I don’t know yet! Here we are in that week between Christmas and New Year’s and God hasn’t’ spoken to me about a theme for 2012 yet. I have some inklings, but nothing concrete. So be in prayer with me, friends. And not just prayer – be in faith with me – that He who began a good work in you and in me will bring it to completion!Thank You, Lord!
I was blown away as we sang this song in church Sunday. As we sang the chorus, I had a mental picture of Jesus seated on His throne on a high platform. Then He stood and began stepping down from the throne. As the image faded, the Christmas message explode in my spirit. Christ…stepping down from His throne, leaving His home…all for me. With tears in my eyes, I quit singing and simply worshiped the King of all Kings, the Lord of all Lords…who gave it up for me…
As we approach Christmas, take just a few minutes to meditate on that King and Lord. Turn your speakers up, sit back and close your eyes…or stand and lift your arms…worship Jesus…who gave it all up for you.
Downhere performs their song “How Many Kings.”
(copyright 2006, Centricity Music Publishing/Germain Martel Publishing)
Chorus and Coda:
How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts?
To romance a world that is torn all apart?
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
1 To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven. 2 A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest. 3 A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to rebuild 4 A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance. 5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away. 6 A time to search and a time to lose.
A time to keep and a time to throw away. 7 A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak up. 8 A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you. Galatians 4:4-7 (NLT)
Scripture says that there is “a time for every purpose under heaven.” Under heaven means here on earth. It also says “When the time was right” or “When the fullness of time had come” God sent His son…
When you put those Scripture together, I get excited.
There was a story in the news earlier this year about a study done by the Oxford Dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary is the dictionary to beat all dictionaries. Here in America, when we think of dictionaries, we think of Webster. In London, they think of Oxford. The study identified the 25 most commonly used nouns. The noun that is used more than any other noun is the word “time”. Also in the list of top 25 nouns are year, day, and week. So 4 of the top 25 words relate to time… The world is obsessed with time!
So obsessed that the US Government has two different agencies that are responsible for keeping the “official time” of the United States. Seems to me that one agency would be sufficient.
I think the reason we’re obsessed with time is because we can’t control it. It continues moving forward no matter what we do. Sometimes it seems to move more quickly and sometimes more slowly, but no matter what we do, it continues on.
We try to control it. We talk about managing our time. I googled “time management” and got 43,900,000 hits! Nearly 44 MILLION!
That made me curious, and since searches are so quick and easy, I decided to google just the word “time.” There were more than 14 BILLION references to the word time.
Yes, I’d say we’re obsessed with time.
I think we’re also obsessed with time because we don’t really understand it. Sometimes it seems to move quickly, sometimes it drags. It seems to just disappear sometimes and when we’ve taken an unexpected nap we can become totally disoriented – largely because we can’t figure out what day/time it is.
In all this stress over time, there is reason to rejoice and have peace. Let’s look at some of the things Scripture tells us about time.
1) God exists outside of time. Now I don’t understand what that means or how that happens, I just know that it is. Scripture is clear that God is eternal. That means He existed before time began and he will exist after time ends. There was never a time when He didn’t exist and there will never be a time when he won’t exist.
Isaiah 57:15 says that God “inhabits eternity” – in other words, He lives in eternity.
In Isaiah 43:13, the Lord Himself says this: “From eternity to eternity I am God.”
Another phrase that you’ll find many times in the Bible is “from everlasting to everlasting.” It’s often used with an exhortation to “praise Him, because He lives from everlasting to everlasting.”
2) God created time.
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
Genesis 1:1-5
At the moment God created the first day, He created time as we measure it. The creation continues story by identifying what God did during the first seven days of the existence of time as we know it. Since God created time, we can trust Him with our time. When I am stressed because I have too much to do and too little time, I can take a step back, remember that God created and controls time, and rest in Him.
3) God has a purpose for our time and wants to be involved in our lives.
Did you ever wonder why you were born when you were born? I think girls especially sometimes look at history books and maybe they see the pretty clothes of the Victorian era or some other time and they begin to wish they had lived in another time.
Acts 17 tells us something interesting about the time in which we live:
26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Acts 17:26-27
Ecclesiastes 3 says that there is a time to be born and a time to die. This passage says the same thing, but it goes a bit further. It says that God determines the time for us to be born and the time for us to die. He also determined the exact places where we should live. Why? So that we would seek Him and reach out to Him and find Him.
God’s actions throughout history have been aimed at one goal – that we would seek Him; that we would reach out and find Him. It’s so important to God that we have a relationship with Him that He sent His Son to earth. He understood that it can be hard for us to understand what we can’t see. So Jesus said “I’ll go! Send me.” Then He stepped out of eternity and stepped into time.
And that was such a climactic event in all of human history, that time is measured before and after it. We live in the year 2011 AD – in other words, 2011 years after Jesus lived.
4But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. 5God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. 6And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. 7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you. Galatians 4:4-7 (NLT)
This passage says that God sent His Son, Jesus, to buy freedom for us so that we could be adopted as God’s own children. And when we are adopted as His own children, everything He has belongs to us.
God’s highest purpose, is to give each of us an opportunity to be adopted as His son or daughter.
Romans 5 explains how that happened:
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
Romans 5:6
“At just the right time” Christ “died for us sinners.” You see, even when we find God, we have a problem. That problem is called sin. We have lived our lives apart from God, doing what seemed right to us, not doing what God considered right. There is a punishment due for that sin – a penalty. The penalty, Scripture says, is death. So that we might escape eternal death, Jesus stepped in and said “Father, I’ll die in their place.”
Again, Romans 5:6 says:
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
Romans 5:6
The passage continues with one of my favorite verses in all of Scripture:
8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s judgment. 10For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life. 11So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God—all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us friends of God.
Romans 5:8-11
“Now we can rejoice,” Scripture says, because when we believe what Scripture teaches and trust Jesus for our life, God adopts us as His sons and daughters and all that He has is ours. Remember, one of the things He has is eternal life…He lives in eternity. When we trust Jesus, we will live in eternity with God. Yes, He has still appointed a time for us to die, but it’s not an eternal death, it’s merely a crossing from this life into life with God for eternity.
Like I said earlier in this blog, I don’t understand eternity. You know what? That’s OK, because what I do know is that spending eternity with God is a GOOD thing. When my time on this earth is done, when God’s purposes for my life on this earth are accomplished, God has appointed a time for me to die. But He is arranging the events of my life so that I will seek Him and find Him.
When your time on this earth is done, when God’s purposes for your life are accomplished, He has appointed a time for you to die. In the meantime, He’s arranging the events of your life so that you will seek Him and find Him. If you haven’t found Him, I encourage you to continue to seek Him. You can read more about how to find Him here. The time is right! ’Tis the season.
16I [Paul] pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19
Last week I blogged about Ephesians 3:20 and 21 – the blessing that Paul prayed to God after praying the above the above prayer for the Ephesians. Over the weekend, this passage caught my eye and I did a little bit of study on it. It’s an awesome prayer that becomes even better when you look at the meaning of a couple of the words. Let’s do it. First verses 16 and 17a:
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
Ephesians 3:16-17a
“out of” his glorious riches – really means “according to the standard of” his glorious riches– so it’s not like God’s got a bag of glorious riches and He’s pulling some of them out to give to me and you, but rather He has this tremendous standard of blessings and gifts and enablements and He is ministering to us according to that standard. There is a huge difference in the connotations of these two perspectives – one is kind of like saying “I’m giving you this because my very nature is giving and you’re mine” which is a wonderful thing, but the other is “I am enabling you to come up to my high standards”.
“strengthen” means “be strong to overcome resistance”.
“power” is the word dunamis – you’ve probably heard that word before – it means “dynamic living power” or “power to perform miracles”.
“dwell” – The Bible Knowledge Commentary describes the word dwell as referring “not to the beginning of Christ’s indwelling at the moment of salvation. Instead it denotes the desire that Christ may, literally, “be at home in,” that is, at the very center of or deeply rooted in, believers’ lives. [Paul was praying that the Ephesians were ] to let Christ become the dominating factor in their attitudes and conduct.”
So let’s look at verse 16 again – Paul says he prays that according to the standard of God’s glorious riches he may strengthen you with dynamic living power to overcome resistance through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may be at home, deeply rooted and ruling in your life.
And then Paul pours on an even greater powerhouse prayer – he prays that we being rooted and established in love, we would have the power to grasp the immensity of God’s love is for us – a love that surpasses knowledge – so that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. WOW!
Let’s look at more words:
“rooted and established” – the tenses mean that it’s a done deal with continuing actions – we have been rooted and established in God’s love…it’s a done deal. Finished. And are continually being rooted and established – constant and ongoing. So since being rooted and established there is no time when we are not being rooted and established.
“power” – Although translated power here, it is a different word from the previous verse. The word translated power in the previous verse was dunamis – dynamic, living power; the word here really means “to take hold of as one’s own” – I’ve taught this word before – it’s Katalambano. It means to apprehend or to seize. It’s used in Philippians 3:12, the verse that the name of this blog is taken from – Paul says “but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
“know” – intimately know, experience
What an over the top prayer Paul prayed. Sometimes we have read something so many times or we read it so quickly because we have the rest of our day to get to that the enormity of it or the impact of it just flies by us. Paul is praying some heavy duty stuff for the Ephesians.
Stuff that is not only over-the-top, but also stuff that would have been a bit radical for his time. In verse 16, he prayed for God to “strengthen the believers through His Spirit in their inner being.” That’s radical because the Jews would not have prayed or believed for God working in them to resist temptation. They taught and believed of a more outwardly working God, not God dwelling in us and working from within.
What I find to be radical is the prayer for power for us to grasp the immensity of God’s love and filling to the measure of all the fullness God. Close your eyes for a minute. Now take a minute to think about someone that you love or have loved more than anything. Everyone has loved someone – a mother or father, sibling, friend or spouse. Think about the depth of the love you have for that person – what you would do for that person, how your life is enriched by that person. Now imagine that love purified to the nth degree and expanded beyond your ability to imagine in the natural. That’s God’s love for you. And Paul’s prayer is that you would not only be able to imagine, but to know – to experience – the unimaginable – how wide and long and high and deep God’s love is.
That’s the love Paul wants us to know. It’s the love he prayed the Ephesians would know. It’s the love God wants us to apprehend. Friends, I pray that you would know the deep, passionate, ongoing love that God has for you.
in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
We live in the midst of a culture that specializes in complaining, but God encourages us to be counter-culture. No, that’s not correct. God does more than encourage us to be counter-culture – He makes it clear that it is His will for us. Did you catch that? God’s will for you is that you give thanks. Put another way, you are fulfilling God’s will for your life when you are giving thanks. OK, perhaps not God’s entire will for your life, but His will never-the-less.
Let’s take it to heart this month – in everything, give thanks – for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Many people are putting a daily message on Facebook proclaiming their thankfulness to God. Whether you make it public on Facebook, Tweet your thanks, add comments below this blog, or share your thanksgiving with your family – let’s make it a month of giving thanks – maybe it’ll turn into a lifestyle! Then we’ll be fulfilling God’s will for our lives.
Let me know how it goes!
As for me, I’ll start the month by being thankful to God for the purposes and plans He has for me and His enabling power to grow into those purposes and plans. I’m thankful that 32 years ago God opened my eyes to His great love for me and I invited Christ to be Savior of my life. What a good God He is!
“Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
2 Timothy 1:12b
As I read that Scripture today, my mind drifted to the topic of needless worry. Even as I type the phrase, I realize that the word “needless” is…well, needless. It’s not necessary – because it is true of all worry. It’s not like some worry is needed and some is needless. All worry is needless. There is no worry that is justified.
What captured me about this verse is that it gives me both:
the reason that worry is never justified, and
the method for achieving a “don’t worry” lifestyle
The reason – He is able
“He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
God is able. Period. He is able to guard whatever we’ve given to him. What value is worry? It doesn’t add one inch to my height (Matthew 6:27) and it doesn’t make me happy or content. More likely the weight of the worry slumps me over, gives me gray hairs and wrinkles, and fills my day with negativity.
You already know lots of verses about God’s faithfulness and capability, but let me remind you of just two:
My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. (Philippians 4:19)
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
The method (1) – Entrust your life and life situations to Him
“He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.”
What is He able to guard? That which I have entrusted to Him. What are you worred about today? Have you entrusted it to Him? Have you cast your cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7)? Or are you holding them in your heart…so that they leave no room for God? God’s perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18)! Use that perfect love to cast your fears back upon the Lord.
The method (2) – Know God
“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced…”
Do you really know God? Do you know Him well enough to be convinced that He is able? Further, do you allow that knowledge to convince you of it? Knowing something is different from being convinced of it. Being convinced of something generally requires either a testing of the knowledge we have to prove it as fact or an overwhelming stack of evidence that make the knowledge irrefutable.
I’ll be honest – the first time I said “yes” to God I didn’t know him very well. I knew the central points of the Gospel:
God was a reality (a major stepping stone for me because I had rejected that point most of my life)
That the Bible was the Word of God (not a book of Grimm’s fairy tales as I had been referring to it)
That I was a sinner (that was a pretty easy one)
That Jesus paid the penalty for my sins by dying on the cross
That I needed to accept Jesus’ gift of forgiveness of my sins in order to spend eternity in heaven (I didn’t quite know what this meant, but the alternative wasn’t at all appealing)
That if I rejected Jesus’ gift I would spend eternity in hell
For about a month before accepting Jesus as my Savior, I was convinced of all of these central points except the first one! I had read enough of the Bible and enough about the Bible that I was convinced it was not a book simply written by men to tell a story we wanted to hear. It was too full of fulfilled prophecies and the realities of life for that. The evidence was stacked up so high that I could no longer deny that Scripture is valid and true. Once I was convinced of that, the points that follow were no-brainers.
Yet still I struggled with that first point – truly believing that there is a God who existed before time began and will exist forever. Such a concept was (and still is) outside my ability to comprehend. It took an experience with God for me to be fully convinced that He existed and that He cared for me. I found myself in serious danger one night – in a situation in which I was totally defenseless. When I emerged from the situation totally unharmed, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had intervened. At that moment I became convinced that He was real and that He had intervened in my life, even if I didn’t understand or acknowledge His existence. (It has since dawned on me that if I could comprehend this God I serve, He wouldn’t be worth serving – duh!)
Since that time God has shown Himself to be real and alive and strong over and over again. Each experience I have with Him enables me to say as Job did “I know my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25) Often when this verse is quoted, the last half of that verse is left off. Let’s not do that! It is an affirmation just as Paul’s affirmation in 2 Timothy. Job knew that no matter what happened on this earth that one day his Redeemer would “win.” Paul says that he is convinced that His Redeemer is able to keep everything that he entrusts to Him – in other words, that Jesus will win over any and all that the devil throws at Him.
Do you know Him well enough to know that He will hold what you have entrusted to Him? I hope so. Yet we all have times when our faith waivers. Whether you’re just getting to know Him or have known Him for years but find your faith waivering, the process of knowing God and becoming convinced of His awesome power are the same: Spend time with Him in many ways every day.
Read His word.
Talk to Him.
Listen for His response.
Worship Him.
Serve Him.
Talk about Him with your friends.
Frends, I challenge you to give God a chance to further convince you of His faithfulness, power and great love by entrusting your biggest concern in life to Him today. Yep, today.
Stop for a moment here and consider what is the most pressing issue in your life.
Now take a few moments to entrust God with that issue. Go ahead – say it out loud so that you hear yourself giving it to God.
Now, rest in your confidence that He is able and begin to look forward to watching God move in that area of your life.
I think I’ll close and do that myself. Let me know how it goes for you!
It stands to reason to me that if we, as Christians, can embrace the idea that bad things happen to good people . . . then we would be able to wrap our arms around the idea that good people – even Christians — do a fair amount of those bad things. And then we could wrap our good Christian arms around those that did it and those that hid it at the same time we comfort those that got pummeled by it. ”It” being sin. Surely our arms are bigger than we let on. Surely, there is mercy and forgiveness and grace abounding. Surely we can restore the sinner with the same hope we rescue the sinned-against. Surely God’s love — which is to be in us — is enough to cover all.
God’s call to love one another is no place for cowards, as Thom writes. It takes great courage and God’s compassion. Take a few minutes and be challenged by this blogtoday.
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