From this month’s Discipleship Journal

“THE MIND OF MAN PLANS HIS WAYS, BUT THE LORD DIRECTS HIS STEPS.” Proverbs 16:9

In this month’s Discipleship Journal, Paula Rinehart writes on releasing regret - overcoming the questions and doubts from the past and letting God’s sovereignty overtake us. She encourages us to not look at years as if they’ve been wasted (such an evil lie!). As believers in Christ, we have a different way to live: “If we make the journey of life in Christ well, we will eventually come face-to-face with the sovereignty of God.”…

Good news: “The God who spoke the worlds into existence and keeps the stars in place is the GOD who knows you like no one else ever will. He has always loved you. He will love you to the end. His purposes for you are so set that you can rest every minute in the shade of His merciful superintendence over your life.”

Love the Right Way

I think it’s possible to love the wrong way. My intentions can show that I might put a limit on how far or how much love I might give. They can tell me if I’ve mistaken love for something else, or if I’ve ignored it for shameful reasons. That’s loving all wrong. But ”the lips of the righteous know what is acceptable” (Psalm 10:32).

Loving the right way doesn’t come with butterflies. It doesn’t come with an A+ or a round of applause. You don’t always get a feeling or a voice in the night. Loving the right way is patient, it’s righteous, godly, and it takes your whole being. Loving the right way takes practice. And it’s not easy. It speaks through everything you do. It brings you closer to God, to His glory, to His people. And it will always return.

1 Corinthians 13

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Charity sufferth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth (boasts) not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. ~~~

Prone to Wander

(wander like a giraffe? I don’t know, just went to the zoo and wanted to post a picture…)

God is so good. You know? There’s no comparison to the beauty He gives and the love He has. Even though we are so conflicted and confused and have so many questions, He’s still there. He still allows the sun to shine, allows the birds to sing, allows the day to end. There’s no question for Him too big, too insignificant that He can’t come in and let you know He’s there. Amazing! Sometimes I have no peace whatsoever about situations, relationships, and then the Holy Spirit gives me peace like a gorgeous sleep and I know God still walks with me. In moments when I’m prone to wander and doubt God’s power and love for me, I’m thankful that He’s already taken my heart and won’t ever let go - no matter what.  

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise His Name I’m fixed upon it
Name of God’s redeeming love.Hither to thy love has blessed me
Thou has brought me to this place
And I know thy hand will bring me
Safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:

 

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Faith in Action

A friend of mine showed me this passage I had forgotten despite the nice highlighter markings in my Bible. We were talking about what it meant to put our salvation into words. She didn’t like the analogy that trusting God is like trusting in a chair to hold you up. It doesn’t have anything to do with us, whether we believe the chair works or not. God’s mercy has nothing to do with us. Whether we trust Him or not, He sacrificed His life to be an offering for the mess we would make trying to save ourselves, living in a world we can’t fix, can’t conquer.

2 Peter 1:3-8 gives counsel:

  His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

  For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

For amazing faith in action, I’d encourage you to read one particular story at the following blog: “Bring the Rain” at http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/.

Lord, I pray for healing and for help as we learn how to lean on you. Help us show your love by what little faith we have. Take it and add what you will that we may see goodness, cherish knowledge, pride self-control, persevere for godliness, seeking brotherly kindness - every day of our lives. Amen 

Thought from CSI (Miami)

Seriously, C.S.I. is the best unbelievable TV show. Have you seen it? The situations are overblown, the timing is completely unrealistic, and the expectations on justice much too high. Still I watch as if the sky will fall inside the TV screen.

I was reading a devotional this morning that stated in some way how God was sufficient enough for the example and still is sufficient enough for our lives. When we live our lives apart from Him, we’re showing that He actually is not enough. I didn’t need someone else to tell me this but the timing was wonderful.

And so that’s what CSI is - insufficient. And lately it’s just inappropriate. Realistic and improper. But it’s attractive so I stay and watch it when really I’m saying that my God isn’t enough and somehow, this unbelievable, impossible presentation can cut it. This can be my escape and my rest and I’m good to go. I do that with so many things - expect enough from things not based on reality, not based on God.

I really don’t want my life to be telling God He’s not enough. Isn’t that what Christ refuted when He came down? He gave a truth we could hope in. He met an expectation that was out of this world. I am more than enough for you. I am all and more. He said it on the cross, hands stretched out. Human form. It was reality we could believe in.

Hebrews 5:8-9

“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.”

Amen

The Son of God, Emanuel, is Here With Me.

Romans 8:24a-25 “For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

What’s the deal with living water?

I wish I could remember where I saw this connection, but when the Israelites were in the wilderness on their way to the promised land, the words Massah and Meribah would bring bitter memories as they wandered. In Exodus 17:7, the Israelites are recorded for doubting God and thinking Him insufficient to provide for their needs as He lead them on a journey to what was called the promised land.

In the land of Massah and Meribah God came through and met their needs making water spring from a rock. This was right before the Israelites complained that they had been brought to the desert out of slavery to die. Much earlier, God had caused ten plagues to cover Egypt and show His desire to let the Israelites be free. They named the place after their moaning.

Every time the Israelites would hear the name of that place in the wilderness, it’d be a reminder of their faithlessness in God to provide. It’d be a reminder of those who never made it to the promised land because of their decision to walk without God rather than trust in Him.

Still, God provided. For the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus leads her to a living water that she could only imagine. The living water was an allusion to the safety and salvation in Christ, our hope and life spring. She would find out that He provided more than what she would ever find at a well, in a rock, in anything made by man or even God unless it was God Himself. We are energized and relaxed by a water that will never run out, even when faith wavers. His waters are too deep.  

Foto found here: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/viewtopic_archives.php?TopicID=182731&page=0

He is Risen!

 ”What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” - Matthew 8:27

For Christians, today is the best day of the world really.

This morning I woke up to hear the bells pealing, and the birds singing. My dad was playing Easter hymns at full blast. It was beautiful. The Christ-child that was born has gone through a lifetime of living on this earth the way everyone has experienced it. He’s dealt with family life with siblings and all. He’s grown up knowing the difference between the haves and the have-nots. He’s been acquainted with disappointment, health, death, and sadness. He’s had some cuts and bruises along the way - experienced the pain of hunger. He knows what it is to live in a fallen world.  He’s seen the ups and downs of having friends who are on some days, and off the next. He’s had everyone leave Him when He’s needed it most. This guy seems a lot like me. Except…He was God. 

Christ - the Emmanuel that the angels sang to in a manger so long ago - has taken on the world without giving in to its temptations and sins. Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus conquered death for life. 

Jesus doesn’t walk among us anymore, but reigns over us. He stays with us because He walked the same road. For others the story is pretty interesting, but without faith that Christ was also God in flesh, the truth is missed completely.

What kind of God would come down to earth and live here?

What kind of God would be so bold as to die here and let it go down in history?

What kind of followers would tell the whole world the story so others could believe the same?

It’s crazy but this Christ whom Christians deify is truly an amazing God. Happy Easter, and God bless you! Christ is risen!