The Need for Trials

There are some truths related to trials that we--I--occasionally forget.
First, all trials that come into my life are need based. God has a specific purpose related to my spiritual maturity and related to my ability to know Him more deeply that is immersed in the trial He plans into my walk. For example, when God puts me in a situation that creates in my heart and mind a fear of the future, a fear of my needs being met, it is undoubtedly because I need to grow in my confidence that He is the God who holds my future in His hands--lovingly. I have been relying--am still relying--on my ability to, independently of God, meet my own needs. So as my loving Father, He simply makes that impossible. He invites me to really trust fully in His promise to supply all my need. He invites me to really trust fully that He is the God of "more than you ask or think." Knowing my stubborn independence and self-reliance, He moves in my life so that I will develop a genuine faith in what I believe in my head but, not yet, in my walk--that He can always be trusted. He wants me to cast all my cares on Him to thwart the intimidating roar of the lion. He wants me to take the winds of adversity and soar on the eagle wings of faith.
And if I struggle with trusting my children and grandchildren to His care, undoubtedly, it is because I have not yet learned to love unconditionally. I have not yet learned to advocate faithfully in intercessory prayer. I do not yet embrace with my walk that He loves my children and grandchildren so much more than I could ever love them. Such a trial makes me a better lover and a more fervent man of prayer. The trial is designed to be transformational, not punitive. He wants nothing more than for me to reflect more of His image to the world He sent me to. His trials--each and every one of them--have as their central purpose not a desire to push me away from Him in petty self-pity, but a desire to draw me closer into His heart, more confident in His incalculable love, and more trusting in His unfathomable wisdom.
And that leads me to another aspect of suffering that I must always remember. Suffering is the evidence of genuine faith. All those who are truly His children have been given the transformational blessing of trials. All those who are truly His children are reminded through trials--should be reminded--that He is the God of love. The God who loves them--who always loves them. And our trials are evidence to others of the genuineness of our faith in the God of love--the God who wants to love them through every trial that they are experiencing. Our faith to see the possible in the impossible . . . Our faith to recognize the victory in the failure . . . Our faith to embrace the need to rely on the strength to endure found only in the weakness . . . And our faithfulness to radiate the joy that comes through humble submission to His love and to His wisdom--all are designed to be compelling evidence to a lost world of the genuine love of Calvary's cross and the undeniable power of the empty tomb. Our faith in difficult times says to the world that it is worth it to follow Him through the valleys of life's shadows--no matter how deep the valleys or how deep the darkness. Many, I believe, will be in Heaven because a child of God in the midst of difficult times gave evidence through a life of joyous trust that Jesus' love is the realest truth on earth--and in heaven.
May God's Spirit enthrone these truths on my heart every day. And may my response be days filled with joyful praise that He loves me enough to keep working at transforming me into His image and that He loves me enough to assure me that I am His--and that He trusts me enough to use my life as evidence to a suffering world of His redeeming, trustworthy love. The love that calls to them: "Come unto me and I will give you rest."

Growing Old

Great things about growing old:

As the body decays, the soul is enriched.
Looking back, it is impossible to count all the blessings that He created in my life out of my worst yesterdays.
The Challenge: I'm still here. He obviously has something for me to do for His glory. And He'll supply the power to do it. And then tell me "Thank You." Imagine that! Despite my past record, He has confidence in His ability to still use me. And wants to!
Gray hairs--according to Him--a sign of all the wisdom He's given. (I wonder what fewer hairs is a sign of?)
The Word that I've hid in my heart, His Spirit has miraculously transformed into spontaneous behavior that reflects His grace--the grace that specializes in weakness.
So many truths that I knew in my head I now know by experience. You know, like, God is so good. I will never leave you nor forsake you. When you are faithless, I will be faithful. My love for you is inescapable. I can go back into your yesterdays and saturate them with My goodness and mercy. I took care of all your tomorrows yesterday. And I will know at least one more: "Yes, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for He will be with me."
I cherish the gift of each day.
I've got my eyes on the sparrows and the lilies of the valley.
Following Him--no matter what--brings a daily joy that is incomprehensible.
And I am so much closer to seeing Him--face-to-face.

As the body decays, the soul is enriched.

Revolutionary Behavior

Peter as Nero began his vicious persecution of the church falsely accusing them of burning down--destroying--Rome gave this advice to the scattered seed of faithful believers: "Your conduct among the surrounding peoples in your different countries should always be beautiful, always be good and right, so that although they may in the usual way slander you as evildoers, yet when disasters come they may glorify God when they see how well you conduct yourselves. Obey every man-made authority for the Lord's sake--whether it is the emperor, as the supreme ruler, or the governors whom he has appointed to punish evildoers and reward those who do good service. It is the will of God that you may thus silence the ill-informed criticisms of the foolish. As free men you should never use your freedom as an excuse for doing something wrong, for you are at all times servants of God."

As hostility toward Christ--and thus toward His followers--increases, Peter says we need to live a beautiful life, submitting to those in authority even if they are doing the exact opposite of what their duties are before God. You cannot be a servant of God and do otherwise. You cannot glorify Him and do otherwise. Without submitting to those in authority, you cannot turn slanderers into those who recognize and acknowledge His character. Anything else is an "excuse for doing something wrong." How beautiful is your life--in His eyes?

"You should have respect for everyone; you should love our brotherhood, fear God and honor the emperor."

Hunger

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness."

"O, taste and see that the Lord is good, How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."

"As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for the living God, when shall I come and see the face of God?"

"Like new-born babes, long for the pure mild of the Word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted of the kindness of the Lord."

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord, the Spirit;"

The Word reveals God's thoughts, God's loves, and God's will for our lives. You will not grow to know Him more fully unless you are immersed in the Word. Healthy Christians are hungry Christians. Healthy Christians are daily being transformed into His image.

The Necessity of Repentance

Jesus said: "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Genuine faith requires a change of heart--a change in the things you love; a change of mind--a change in the way you think and a change in the things you meditate on; and a change of direction--a change in one's purpose from pleasing self to serving others and thereby pleasing Him. If no change has occurred, no repentance is evident . . .
The Savior said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

No growth. No life.

Blessed

Regeneration: God has made me who was dead in my sins, alive with Christ.
Justification: God has taken away my sin and replaced it with His Son's righteousness.
Redemption: Christ has paid the full price to purchase me out of enslavement to sin and to free me to seek first the kingdom of God.
Propitiation: Christ sacrifice atoned for all my sin by bearing the wrath of God that was rightfully mine to bear.
Sanctification: The Spirit is daily transforming me back into the image of God; setting me apart to be holy because He is holy.
Mercy: God's mercy guarantees that I will never receive the condemnation and punishment that I so undeniably deserve.
Inheritance: God has made me a join-heir with Christ.

Grace: All of these riches are mine eternally because it was the sovereign pleasure of God to give them to me even though I could never merit one of them for a second of eternity."
"Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings eternally!!!"

Abel

"It was because of his faith that Abel made a better sacrifice to God than Cain, and he had evidence that God looked upon him as a righteous man, whose gifts He could accept. And though Cain killed him, yet by his faith he still speaks to us today."

What does Abel say to us today?

Faith is necessary to pleasing God.
Faith--that God is and that He is worth seeking--gives understanding.
The sacrifice of the righteous man is well-pleasing in His sight.
The faithful should expect acts of animosity from the self-righteous.
There are consequences: Adam and Eve understood "you will surely die." Cain understood that sin separates, that the eyes of the Lord are everywhere beholding the evil and the good, that ignoring God's plea for repentance and letting sin fester in one's heart is catastrophically destructive. Abel discovered that death is the doorway to life. He was the first to hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
You can kill the "messenger" but the message still speaks. Forever.
God rewards the faithful. Think of how long God has been using Abel's testimony to reach out to men.

Essential Prayer

The necessary--essential--prayer for the beginning of each day: "Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done." Essential.


Paul implores us to be "striving together for the faith of the gospel."
He testifies, "And for this purpose--that we may present every man complete in Christ--I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me."
The word "striving" is the same word translated "agonizing" in the telling of our Lord's praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.

That's why that prayer for each day is so essential. If we are going to strive--agonize--together for the faith of the gospel, for the ministry of presenting those we love and serve complete in Christ, we must pray with Him. "Not my will but Thine." Only then can I access "the power which mightily works within me."

Principles

Reminder: Five simple principles to live by:
The Principle of Submission: Submit to the governing authorities; they have been established by God.
The Principle of Relationships: In humility, consider others better than yourself.
The Principle of Purity: Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; honor God with your body.
The Principle of Suffering: Jesus proved the meaning of obedience through the things that He suffered.
The Principle of Obedience: To obey is better than sacrifice.

Opinions

Never try to live up--or down--to someone else's imagination of who you are or who you should be. Stay in the Word, be sensitive to the Spirit's affirmation, and be eager to surrender to the Spirit's call to transformation. Be who He created you to be and respond to who He is making you to be. No one else's opinion matters.

The Walk

If your Christian walk is easy, something is wrong.
If your Christian walk is a joyful struggle, something is right.
If your Christian walk doesn't appear to be making a difference, quit playing God.
If your Christian walk is making a "seeable" difference, humbly thank Him, The work is His, you know?
If you love those who love you and love Him, that's good. If you love those who are apathetic toward Him and you--and antagonistic toward the Gospel, that's Christ-like love. You'll never meet a sinner, He didn't die for.
Again, a worthy walk has nothing to do with what an intellectual, spiritual giant you think you are. It has to do with how well you live everything you know. And that's impossible without the Spirit's empowering. And that's impossible without a life saturated in God's Word and dependent on prayer.
The Christian walk can only be taken one step at a time.

Difficult Circumstances

Paul tells us the necessary approach to difficult circumstances:
Covet the prayers of others. And then have confidence in God's desire to answer their prayers for you.
Intercede for them--with thanksgiving.
Rest in The Priority of victorious Christian living: "To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."
Focus on the needs of others. Embrace opportunities given to you by the Savior to touch the lives of others.
Keep walking worthy of your life in Christ. Let there be no imbalance between what you know of Him and your obedience to all that you know.
Don't sweat the opposition--the critics. He alone is the One to please. Your walking in prophets' shoes: "In the same way they persecuted the prophets who came before you." What a privilege He's given you! And responsibility to keep on sharing "Thus says the Lord."
Rejoice!

Reflections on Worship

Giving is a necessity if I am going to worship God. It is "a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. It is impossible to be like Him without being a giver. "For God so loved the world that He gave." We don't give because we doubt His promise to supply all our need. Not giving is the antithesis of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
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Have a pastor who keeps on reminding you of "the same old truths"? He probably graduated from Paul's seminary: "To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you." Be thankful you have a pastor who is interested in your spiritual safety. Keep your guard up.
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The minute I believe that I have nothing more to learn of Christ, I have become an arrogant, foolish man. Stagnancy is the enemy of intimacy. 
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Disharmony in the church is not a time to pick sides, but a time to do everything necessary to unite the body by reminding them they're on the same side. His.
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The peace of God in our hearts is unattainable without thanks-filled prayer and expectant supplication.
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 God promises us the gift of suffering. Fringe benefits: Encouragement, tender persuasion, fellowship, affection, compassion, joy, humility. God's gifts always come in the most wondrous "wrapping paper."
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 Ideas the world hates: sacrifice for others, discarding my rights, humility, disregard for my reputation, poverty, submission, obedience, servanthood. Those are precisely the activities that characterized the life that Christ lived and the life that He desires for us to live.
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 Paul spent two years under house arrest. Outcome: Some of Rome's elite soldiers and some of Nero's household found Jesus as their Savior. See your circumstances as the opportunity God intends for them to be.
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 Paul's question for us: "Why do you keep holding on to that huge pile of rubbish that keeps you from knowing the surpassing value of Christ Jesus your Lord?"
What's the huge pile of rubbish? Confidence in your flesh instead of total reliance on the Spirit for truly righteous living.
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 Yes, He still deeply loves you.

Safe

I've had this little chorus stuck in my head all day long:
"Safe am I. Safe am I, in the hollow of His hand.
Safe am I, Safe am I, in the hollow of His hand.
No foe can harm me; no fear alarm me, for He keeps both day and night.
Safe am I, Safe am I, in the hollow of His hand."

I love the simple truth--safe in the hollow of His hand. Perfect love casts out fear.


Safe am I.

Being Confident

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a work in you will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ."
God is working today in the lives of those we love--in the lives of those He loves.
God is working today in your life.

He doesn't waste a day. We must be sensitive to those things He wants to teach us this very day to make us more like Him. We must pray every day that He will open the eyes and hearts of those we love to His hand at work in their lives. We must remember that much of our growth is preparation time. He knows our future trials and the opportunities that they bring into our lives to glorify Him. Each day He is preparing us for what's coming. And it may be years before the time comes that we will use what He teaches us today in service for Him. He worked with Moses for eighty years; Paul for at least ten from his conversion to his assignment. Don't take this day for granted. Pursue His presence. Look for His hand at work. Intercede for those you love.

Relationship

Service does not lead to a deepening relationship. A deepening relationship leads to genuine, worshipful service, spiritual insight, and lifelong obedience.

That's either a difficult truth to learn or a difficult truth to embrace--or both. At the dinner they held after Lazarus was raised from the dead, most of the people were there to see Lazarus. In fact, the pharisees--who would have claimed to have a deep relationship with God--were trying to come up with a way to kill Lazarus. Never underestimate the arrogance or the mindless denials of those who refuse to believe in our Savior--despite the evidence. Especially the religious ones. (Remember what Abraham told the rich man in Hades? Even if one returns from the dead, they will not believe.) [And I always find it interesting that the beggar's name was Lazarus.] 

Martha, of course, was still in the kitchen serving--but not complaining this time.

Mary, who had chosen "the one necessary thing"--sitting at His feet. learning from Him, and deepening her relationship with Him, came to the feast to see only one person--her Savior. And in loving, sacrificial worship, she anointed Him--as He testified--for His death. She knew. He had told her. And having seen her brother raised from the dead by His power--I have no doubt she knew for certain now--that death would not hold her Resurrection and the Life. He had told her that as well--just as He had told His disciples; who were clueless. Their focus was on who gets the best "jobs" in the kingdom.

Service does not lead to a deepening relationship. A deepening relationship leads to genuine, worshipful service, spiritual insight, and lifelong obedience. And when the disciples finally, fully realized who He was--"my Lord and My God"--"Lord, you know that I love you--and embraced that relationship--"devoting their lives to prayer and the teaching of the Word"--they, too, became genuine, spontaneous, sacrificial servants of God--to the death. Genuine obedience always continues until death.

Choose the one necessary thing. and each day He will grow "still sweeter than He ever was before." And from a deepening love relationship with Him will flow a life that is "a living sacrifice consecrated to Him."