ApprehendingGrace.com

If you’re like most people, the hustle and bustle of Christmas has a way of robbing the holiday of its rightful focus. As you go through this Christmas season, there’s one thing you can do that will help you see more of what God is doing in your life throughout the Christmas season (and beyond). It’s a simple thing, really, and carries many benefits…and it requires only a little bit of discipline.

Let’s start with a story from Jesus’ life.

       ¹¹Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
     ¹⁴When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
     ¹⁷Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you whole.”
Luke 17:11-19 (NIV)

As they were going – they were cleansed.

But one man, after being cleansed returned to Jesus and gave thanks. Jesus said to this man “your faith has made you whole.”

Notice the difference in the words used in this passage – ten men were cleansed; only one man was made whole.

There’s a difference between being cleansed and being made whole. The word translated “made whole,” – sodzo – means so much more than cleansed. It means “made whole in mind, body and spirit.” It is translated throughout the New Testament as “save” or “saved.”

An Angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and used the word in this passage:

^20b “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save (sodzo) his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:20b-21 (NIV)

It doesn’t just mean cleansed from the disease of leprosy, it means made fully whole – spiritually healed as well as physically and emotionally.

What was it that made him whole – that saved him? Jesus said it was the man’s faith. When the word is translated more fully, the phrase would read “your reliance on Christ” has made you whole.”

But what about the other nine? Did they not rely on Christ? It would seem not. It would seem that somewhere between Jesus saying “go, show yourselves to the priests” and the one man returning to give thanks the nine didn’t make the faith connection.

• Maybe they simply rushed past the event in their excitement of being healed and didn’t recognize that it was Christ who did the healing.
• Maybe they thought it was a crazy coincidence.
• Maybe they attributed the healing to their obedience instead of God’s hand. Now I don’t doubt that their obedience impacted their healing, but if their attitude was “I was healed because I was obedient,” that’s not faith – it’s not relying on Christ to be made whole.

This passage only identifies one man as having made whole and that’s the man who returned to give thanks to Jesus. I don’t want to stretch Scripture too far, but what I see is a direct connection between an attitude of gratefulness and being made whole. Don’t misunderstand me – it is our faith in Christ – our reliance on Him – that saves us. Rather, the direct connection I’m making is that somehow, gratefulness, being thankful, changes our heart and puts us in a better position to receive God’s great gift of salvation.

Check out this verse:

“He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, [says the Lord,]
and he prepares the way
so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Psalm 50:23

Wow! Scripture says that giving thanks, prepares the way for God to show us His salvation. I love this verse. It has such significance.

• Do you need physical healing? Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
• Do you need emotional healing? Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
• Do you need rescuing from your enemies? Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
• Do you need to experience the presence of God? Has He seemed distance? Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
• Are you looking for a way to stay Christ-focused this Christmas? Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

In all cases it honors God and prepares the way so that He may show you His salvation – healing of mind, body and spirit.

Practice it today – give thanks. Then practice it tomorrow. And the next day and the next day and the next day. Develop a lifestyle of honoring God by giving thanks and He will show you His salvation in greater and greater ways.

Be blessed as you bless God, friends.

Tomorrow’s blog – More about how giving thanks opens the way for God to show us His salvation!

Lessons from Habakkuk, Part 1 (Habakkuk chapter 1)

I like the book of Habakkuk! It was part of our Resting at the River’s Edge reading this week and I was so blessed by it. The book records Habakkuk’s cries to God for justice and God’s responses. It is filled with despair and hope; Habakkuk’s reality in this world and His faith-filled response to it.

When I sat down to write several hours ago, I thought I would write a single blog that would pull a few verses from the book that bless me. As I began to study it more, however, and it soon became apparent that more than one blog would be needed to share Habakkuk’s world and faith with you. So as you begin to read this short series of blogs, my prayer is this:

Lord, open our spirits to hear His message for each of us – spoken through Your Word and Your Voice heard deep within our spirit. Teach us Your Ways and give us hearts to be transformed. For the glory of Your precious Son, Jesus. Amen.

Habakkuk sees the world around him and asks God “How long?” Ultimately his cry is not answered, but the prophet stands in faith waiting for it with great tenacity and hope. My breath is taken away by his closing prayer…but that’s a message you’ll read about a couple of blogs from now. Let’s start with Habakkuk’s first lament and the Lord’s response. If you are reading the King James Version, the first verse is translated like this:

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Habakkuk 1:1 (KJV)

Notice that what you are about to read is Habakkuk’s burden – it is his heart’s cry to see justice. Instead all he sees around him is destruction, violence, strife and conflict. The book isn’t recording the annoyance that Habakkuk is experiencing today. It is the burden of his heart and he brings it before the Lord. Let’s read a portion of what he says to God.

² How long, O LORD, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?

³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Habakkuk 1:2-3 (NIV)

I don’t want to diminish Habakkuk’s circumstances – he was looking at the nation of Israel and seeing destruction – but I when I read the verses I personalize them. There have been times in my life when I cried out to God “How long must I call for help but you don’t listen, Lord?” Perhaps you have experienced times when it feels like your life is falling apart around you and you’re about to fall with it. Perhaps there have been times when you’ve been on the receiving end of injustice, destruction and strife. Take heart! God answers Habakkuk’s cry:

Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.
Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)

It’s as if God whispers in Habakkuk’s ear – “Just watch this! I am about to do something you wouldn’t believe if you hadn’t seen it with your own eyes!” Notice that God didn’t just start doing things in response to Habakkuk’s prayer – he simply told Habakkuk that He was going to do things. This teaches me several things about God and His ways:

1 – God wants to reveal His plans to us – He wants to draw our attention to what He is doing. Check out this verse:

Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7 (NIV)

The Lord does nothing without first revealing His plans! That excites me! Let’s keep praying “Lord, show me Your ways! Draw my attention to the things You are doing so that I might give you glory.” That is my prayer during this month of thanksgiving – that He would open my eyes more and more to the things He is doing so that I can give Him glory. Our God is a God who constantly reveals Himself and His plans to us. Whether through His Word, the world He created around us, a conversation with a friend, or His whisper in our ear, He makes His ways known.

2 – God is actively involved in growing our faith muscle – our journey with the Lord is a walk of faith, not sight. We hear Him whisper in our ear “watch this” and then He shows us His awesome power and glory. He puts it into our heart to pray for something, but doesn’t answer immediately because to do so would reduce Him to a heavenly gumball machine – we put our prayers in and immediately receive gumball that satisfies our craving for sweetness and activity! Yes, God answers our prayers, but He answers them according to His will and His plans for us and for the world. Often times that means we wait for our answers. During the waiting, our faith is challenged and we are shaped into the image of Christ. We learn to curb that craving for sweet things and powerless activity while we wait for the richness of God’s presence and the powerful anointing of His Spirit.

3 – Our God is a God of hope. The time was not yet right for God to interrupt Habakkuk’s world. So instead of leaving Habakkuk to dwell in the midst of despair alone, God whispered in his ear “I’m coming…just a little while…and it’s going to be glorious!” When life is at its darkest, we can agree with the prophet Jeremiah:

²¹Yet there is one ray of hope: ²²his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. ²³Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. ²⁴My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. ²⁵The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. ²⁶It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Lamentations 3:21-26 (TLB)

Whew! Three wonderful lessons about the nature of God which fill us with confidence and hope in the midst of the most dismal circumstances. What a great start in this small book of Habakkuk! Chapter 2 continues the lesson…but would make for quite a long blog, so I’m going to resist moving on. Let’s use the next couple of days to let God’s goodness work its way deep into our Spirit before moving on.

I pray, friends, that today and tomorrow you would experience God’s revelatory nature – that He would reveal Himself and His plans to you in a greater way than He has before. I pray that you would be aware of (and joyful in) is activity in your life. That you would know that you know that you know that He is a God of hope – His compassion never ends. I pray that you would experience the goodness in hoping and waiting quietly for God’s response to your challenging circumstances.

Looking forward in anticipation to hearing from you and sharing the next passage from Habakkuk with you.

In the meantime…Enjoy God!

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.

There is only one man God referred to as “a man after my own heart” – King David. Wow! What a way to be known by God! We know that the King was not without his flaws and not without sin, but what earned him the title of “a man after my own heart” was his deep, passionate love for God. God saw into King David’s heart and knew that he had found a friend – someone who would stand by His side forever.

King David was a bit of a renaissance man –

• Mighty in battle – of course, there’s the story of killing Goliath (1 Samuel 17), and then there’s the refrain that ate at Saul’s heart – “Saul has killed his thousands and David has killed his ten thousands.” (1 Samuel 18:7)
• A great King of Israel
• A true friend – to Jonathan (1 Samuel 18) and then his son Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9)
• An inventor of musical instruments (Nehemiah 12)
• An extravagant worshipper of God (2 Samuel 16)
• A songwriter and poet (the Psalms of David)

That’s quite a contrast – a man of war, a great administrator and a poet! One of King David’s Psalms is described by Matthew Henry, a favorite commentator of many, as being “like none of the rest; it excels them all, and shines brightest in this constellation.” He goes on to describe it as “David’s pious and devout exclamations, the short and sudden breathings and elevations of his soul to God.”

With that as a backdrop, it seems appropriate, even beneficial to study this Psalm. What you’ll find is that such a study will be quite different from most because the Psalm is quite different from all others. It is more than twice as long as any other Psalm, and is written in a distinctive manner.

The psalm of the hour is Psalm 119. Matthew Henry goes on to describe the Psalm:

“The composition of it is singular and very exact. It is divided into twenty-two parts, according to the number of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and each part consists of eight verses, all the verses of the first part beginning with Aleph [the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet], all the verses of the second with Beth [the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet], and so on, without any flaw throughout the whole psalm.”

Archbishop Tillotson says, “It seems to have more of poetical skill and number in it than we at this distance can easily understand. Some have called it the saints’ alphabet; and it were to be wished we had it as ready in our memories as the very letters of our alphabet, as ready as our A B C.”

In other words…it’s a worthwhile read.

I find it fascinating that when King David decided to put pen to paper in this unique Psalm, when he wanted to write a poem or song that started each verse with a different letter of the alphabet and worked through all the letters, from A to Z (so to speak), the subject he chose to write about is God’s Word. It wasn’t God’s grace or His mercy or His compassion or His love. It was His Word. David’s love for God was so deep and so passionate, that David loved each Word that came from Him.

Reading through the Psalm, you’ll find that David uses many different words to describe God’s Word: statutes, laws, commands, word. King David loved the Lord and he loved God’s Word. As I read Psalm 119 – all 176 verses of it (!), three themes stand out:

David’s love of and delight in God’s Word
The value of God’s Word
David’s request that God teach him from His Word

As we look at a few verses related to each theme, I’m sure you’ll find some that are quite familiar to you. And as we look at them together, I’m praying that God will use David’s words to ignite a love for God’s Word in each of us.

David’s love of and delight in God’s Word

Your statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors.
(Verse 24)

David describes God’s statutes – His laws – as a delight! They are not burdensome as some might consider them, they are a delight. We’ll see why when we look at what David says about their value.

David is so confident in God’s statutes that he uses them as counselors. In other words, he uses them to help make decisions.

The law from your mouth is more precious to me
than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
(Verse 72)

Is God’s Law more precious to you than your gold and silver? More precious than your job and paycheck? When that’s true, we act differently on the job. We are better employees in most ways – because we are obedient to God’s laws about respecting our employers, working diligently and honestly, and being kind and having a positive attitude.

Oh, how I love your law!
I meditate on it all day long.
(Verse 97)

Oh, to have the love for God’s law that David had. Lord, help me to meditate on it all day long! Help me to keep it in my mind while I work through my days.

The value of God’s Word

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD.
(Verse 1)

Those who follow God’s laws are blessed. It’s the simple principle of sowing and reaping. Living according to God’s laws puts us in a position to receive His tremendous blessings. Conversely, walking outside God’s laws opens us not only to reap the consequences of our choices, but also to being more vulnerable to attacks by satan.

I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
(Verse 11)

Hiding God’s Word in our hearts keeps us from sinning. Memorizing Scripture and meditating on it helps us to make right choices.

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
(Verse 105)

God’s Word shows us the way we should go. It illuminates our thinking opening creative options when all ways seem blocked.

David’s request that God teach him from His Word

Open my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
(Verse 18)

Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end.
Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
(verses 33 and 34)

Notice that David promises to follow God’s laws as God leads him in greater understanding of them. With such a valuable resource, David understands that simply reading God’s Word and not obeying it is a travesty and an affront to God.

Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands.
(Verse 73)

Scripture describes us as “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). David understood that the One who created man is worthy of man’s obedience. He also knew that God didn’t create man and then walk away – He remains actively involved in our world and in our lives if we invite Him in.

All of this leads David to one final overriding theme: Praise for God and His Word.

I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love,
and I meditate on your decrees.
(verse 48)

Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge.
(verse 54)

I like this verse. It challenges me to rejoice over God’s Laws no matter what my circumstances are – wherever I happen to be lodging at the moment, Lord, let me rejoice in Your Laws.

At midnight I rise to give you thanks for your righteous laws.
Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.
(verses 62 and 164)

Your word, O Lord, is eternal, it stands firm in the heavens.
(Verse 89)

Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are they joy of my heart.
(verse 111)

Wow! Another verse that I love. God’s Laws are the joy of David’s heart and are so rich that he considers them his heritage – his inheritance – that thing of value that has been passed down through the generation, preserved and passed on to him. They are an inheritance that, when made his own, enabled David to have a lasting legacy.

They can do the same for us. Whether God’s Word was an inheritance you received from your parents or one you are building for those who follow after you, when you treasure God’s Word as David did, it brings wisdom and joy that enables you to live a life that goes beyond what you might even begin to accomplish in the natural. There’s one more verse I love that applies here:

To all perfection I see a limit; but your commands are boundless.
(Verse 96)

Everything in this life, even those things that are perfect here on earth, has limits. Everything except that which comes from God. His commands are without limits. His Word is without limits – boundless – and they open opportunities for us to have boundless influence.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to partner with You to impact my world and beyond. Teach me Your ways so that I might know You better.

“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!

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

Lately my days have been stolen from me! At least that’s how I would have viewed them in the past. I am learning to view them simply as God having other plans. As my parents age, it’s not unusual for me to get a call that has me drop everything and drive an hour to Cleveland to spend hours at the hospital then drive the hour home. That’s usually followed by phone calls to make, e-mails to write and fallout to deal with the following day or days. That fallout might be more trips to Cleveland, making arrangements of one sort or another, or just dealing with my own emotional condition following the crisis.

I’m not complaining. I am blessed to still have my mom and step-parents around. I’m just saying that God is using this time to teach me in a new way that my time is not my own any more than my money or my possessions are not my own. Learning that my money and possessions were not my own was much easier!

I like my time being my own. I like scheduling out my days and having a plan. I’m even pretty good about things happening that change the plan – because things always happen and plans always change. But the situations I’m facing these days are not changes to plans, these situations are the demolition of plans with little likelihood of being able to develop an alternate plan.

Have you been there? How have you dealt with it?

God is teaching me to let go and trust that He is the author of time and He will and does make it possible to either accomplish what’s necessary or give grace for what isn’t finished as planned. I love that about God.

1) God is teaching me…He doesn’t expect me to just know it. He doesn’t expect me to get it right all the time. He understands that this doesn’t come naturally to me, so He gently pulls and shapes me until I am malleable clay and am formed into the image He has in mind. OK, sometimes it doesn’t feel so gentle, but the end product is pleasing to Him. And if it’s pleasing to Him, I’m good with it.

God has me in training and training is grueling and painful sometimes. Other times it’s repetitive and boring. That’s where perseverance comes in. The Apostle Paul had a few things to say about racing and perseverance:

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

2) He enables me to accomplish things I can’t believe can be accomplished in the time available. Wow! I preached a sermon once about the power of a time-warping God. That sermon was about how He has worked in the past, even before I was born, He works in my present and He is somehow at work in my future – to set things up and help me become the woman of God He wants me to be. That’s pretty powerful stuff. This is a different kind of time warping. This time warping somehow accomplishes four hours worth of work in one – which doesn’t do much for my income when I bill on an hourly basis, but He takes care of that too and it keeps the clients happy which causes them to be repeat customers.

3) He gives grace for what isn’t accomplished that I thought needed to be accomplished. Sometimes I’ll learn that a client was on vacation when I thought he was expecting a project, or I’ll receive changes that would have made all my work a waste had I had time to do it. And sometimes clients are simply understanding as we humbly admit we won’t be able to deliver when we expected to.

Both this point and the previous one are reflected in our company’s key verse:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)

The sum of those three lessons teaches me one other thing – that I truly can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).

I love that God deals with us where we are but takes us to a greater place. He not only has plans for us – plans to prosper us and to give us a hope – but He turns those hopes into reality by walking through our every day life and especially our every day challenges.

My challenge for each of us is to look for what God is doing in each of those 3 areas:

• What is He teaching you through your most significant challenges this week?
• How is He helping you get through those challenges?
• What extra-ordinary grace is He extending to you or others that makes your life work?

My prayer is that we become partners in our growth – recognizing God’s work in us and allowing Him free reign to conform us into the image of Christ – for His glory in heaven and on earth.

Blessings, friends, as you are molded into something greater than you are!

How do you best hear from God? Does He speak to your heart/mind/spirit most often or most clearly when you:

• Read Scripture
• Pray
• Meditate
• Write/journal
• Study
• Discuss Scriptures with other believers
• Serve
• Worship

Of course God can speak to each of us in any way at any point in time, but most people have one or two ways they most often hear from God. Since He created us in our mother’s womb, He knows how we’re wired and He tends to speak to us in ways that are consistent with our personality.

I tend to hear God when I’m writing and when I’m worshipping. Sometimes when I’m meditating on passages.

So, for example, when I read our Resting at the River’s Edge reading for yesterday, a specific verse caught my attention:

“How many loaves of bread do you have?” [Jesus] asked. Mark 8:5 (NIV)

I was tempted to fly past it – I’m familiar with the story, I studied a similar story a couple of weeks ago – but like I said, it caught my attention. So after reading the whole story, I went back and asked God what the big deal with the question was. No answer.

But that verse sure did intrigue me.

So I began to write. I didn’t know where I was going, but I copied the verse into my word processing program and I started writing. Then I deleted what I had written and started again. Then I left what I had written but skipped a few lines and started over. And a message began to form. Several messages, actually, and the passage came to life. Or should I say God brought the passage to life. Yesterday’s blog was just a snippet from the pages I wrote. I’ll be blogging more from the passage next week after I preach two sermons based on it.

In the process I learned an important point: If I had not made time for God – if I had not stopped reading and begun to write – even when I didn’t know what to write – I would not have heard from God.

So my question friends is simple…do you make time for God? If you want to hear from, it’s imperative that you make time to listen.

By the way… one thing I’ve found is that God most often speaks to me when I ask Him to! Yep. When I ask God to speak to me before reading Scripture, I am more likely to hear His message. When I ask Him to speak to me during worship, I am more likely to sense His heart.

And another thing… if you don’t know how you best hear from God why not ask Him? Then spend a few months focusing on different disciplines each month until you hear God speak to you. Ask Him. He’ll respond.

¹⁷Unless the LORD had helped me,
I would soon have died.
¹⁸I cried out, “I’m slipping!”
and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.
¹⁹When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalm 94:17-19 (NLT)

Note to Readers: Hi friends! I had promised the release of my new Bible study on the book of Jonah today. I’m afraid it’s not quite ready. I still have several permissions to obtain for quotes included in the study. I do apologize and hope to release it soon. Watch this space for More than Fish Story, God Moving on Behalf of a City and a Man.

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Unless the Lord had Helped Me…

¹⁷Unless the LORD had helped me,
I would soon have died.
¹⁸I cried out, “I’m slipping!”
and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me.
¹⁹When doubts filled my mind,
your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.
Psalm 94:17-19 (NLT)

I love this passage from today’s Resting at the River’s Edge reading. Three short verses but so much to be gleaned from them.

The psalmist surely did not die (as evidenced by the writing of the Psalm), but he recognizes that it was only by God’s grace that he is alive today. Sometimes Psalms like this seem a bit melodramatic. Was the psalmist really at death’s door? At least that’s what my sometimes skeptical mind asks. Then it occurs to me that there are many kinds of death. Yes, the psalmist may well have been at death’s door and God intervened to save him. Or perhaps the psalmist is talking about the death of sin. Scripture tells us that the penalty for sin is death and that each sin causes a death in our relationship with God and in most cases with others as well. God has made a way for that relationship with Him to be repaired, and that’s in the substitutionary death of His Son, Jesus. When we turn to Jesus asking Him to take our life, He turns to the Father and says “The punishment for his (or her) sin has already been paid. I died for that sin so that he (or she) can live through me.” “Soon” is a relative term, and most likely within the next fifty years I will be at death’s door. Having given my life to Jesus while here on earth, when that time comes, He will step in and say “I died for you – your life in eternity with the Lord begins now.” Unless the Lord had helped me…

God’s unfailing love supports us when we are slipping. Hallelujah! All that’s required is that we call out and ask for His help. But it’s oh, so hard to call out for help sometimes. Why, oh why, oh why, do we resist calling out? Why do we wait until we are on the very precipice of slipping instead of calling out when we still have a little space between us and the precipice? Or better yet, why don’t we cry out for help before we even see the precipice, knowing that God will help us avoid it? (Sigh. Lord, help me to remember this lesson because I so frequently forget it.)

God’s unfailing love supports us when we are slipping (part 2). It props us up. It keeps us from falling. It enables us to stand. Perhaps you’ve experienced this in the natural. Perhaps there is someone in your life in whose love you are so secure that it gives you confidence to step into new areas and adventures. When you’ve committed your life to the Lord, you can be even more secure in His unfailing love. You may fail, but His love does not fail. When we cry out, his unfailing love supports us.

When we’re hanging over that precipice about to slip, sometimes doubts fill our minds. “Will He really help me if I cry out?” “If I had cried out sooner, the Lord would have helped me, but will He help me now?” “I have failed so many times, why should He help me now?” “Can God really…?” “Will God really…” The answers are yes, yes, because He loves you, yes and yes! When doubts assail us, God steps in with His assurance. His Word comes to our mind and a pin prick of hope turns into a beam of light that enables us to cry out for help.

The knowledge that God can and will save us is beyond comforting and changes our perspective to hope and cheer. After He has saved us the first time, we live in the experiential knowledge and reality of His salvation (eternal and temporal). His history with us brings renewed hope and cheer.

I love the Lord. He heard my cry. He’ll hear yours, too. Whether it’s that first cry for salvation, or the cry for help in any situation. He will hear and He will help. His comfort will renew your hope and change your attitude from despair to joy. Have a blessed week friends!

God, the Creator of the Universe is Our Dwelling Place

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

What a reassurance to the psalmist! “Lord, throughout all the generations, you have been our dwelling place.”

• God has been faithful to His people for thousands of years. He has sheltered for them.
• We have a heritage of generations who have been sheltered by the Lord. The older I get the more important my heritage is to me. That heritage connects me to something much bigger than me. When I allow the Lord to be my shelter, I continue an established heritage.
• We are part of a community – He is “our dwelling place” – we are not alone.
• Our dwelling place is the Lord – As we’ll see in the following verses, the Lord almighty!

²Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

~~
⁴For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.

• He is an eternal God.
• He is the God with power to create the earth and the world.
• Eternity is an unimaginably long time. Perhaps a thousand years is like one evening.

We are Sinful and Deserve God’s Wrath

³You turn men back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”
~~
⁵You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning—
⁶though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered.

• He rules over the lives of men and women.
• In light of eternity, our lives are as short-lived as a blade of grass that comes to life one morning but dies in the heat of the sun.

⁷We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.
⁸You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
⁹All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.
¹ The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
¹¹Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

• We are a sinful people and deserve nothing short of the wrath of God.
• We could easily be consumed by our sin.
• Our sins are not a secret from God. They are offensive in His presence.

Seek the Lord and His Favor; Find a Heart of Joy

In light of God’s faithfulness and power, and man’s sinfulness and impotence, the Psalmist does the only thing that makes sense: He Asks for wisdom.

¹²Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
¹³Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.
¹⁶May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.
¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

• Wisdom comes from the Lord. Lord, teach me how to order my days, giving priority to the most important things and forsaking the foolish.
• It is the Lord’s unfailing love that satisfies our deepest needs, our deepest hunger. Lord, reveal Your unfailing love to me in the morning until I am satisfied in it.
• Being satisfied in the Lord enables me to face the world with songs of joy and gladness. Lord, put that song in my heart to carry me through the troubles of this life.
• Show me Your deeds and splendor, Lord.
• Let Your favor rest upon me. When God’s favor rests upon us, we are blessed.
  
• Establish the works of my hands. Keep my life from being meaningless.

I can’t help but see that these ending prayer requests are an outcome of verse 1 – that when the Lord is our dwelling place, we are positioned for Him to show us His deeds and splendor and to be satisfied with His unfailing love. We are positioned to have the song of joy in our heart.

If you could have one wish today what would it be? Think about it for a minute. Would it be greater nearness to God or a good night’s sleep? My first thought was the good night’s sleep. Then the Holy Spirit prompted me. I don’t want to live in the natural. I want to live in God in a great way. So Lord – my wish for today is greater nearness to You! That was David’s cry in Psalm 84, our Resting at the River’s Edge reading for today.

I blogged about this Psalm in a series in January. If you missed them, check them out here:

Psalm 84: A Meditation

Part 1, God’s Sweet Presence

Part 2, Blessings for Those who Dwell with God and Pass Through Dry Valleys

Part 3, One Day in God’s Courts Outshines Everything Else

5 Practical Tips for Dwelling with God from Psalm 84