A Solution

Sometimes when the present looks and feels overwhelming. And the future--whatever that is--"looks" bleak, I find there is only one solution. I just start remembering all the times He has blessed me in my past beyond what I could ask or think. And wow! is that a long list!! And thus I am reminded--faithful then, faithful now, faithful forever. That's the wonder of my God and Father and of my loving Savior. The same "yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. All may fail, but Jesus never. glory to His name."

Life

No thirst. No life.
No hunger. No life.
No growth. No life
No struggle. No life.
No fruit. No life.

Thirst. Life.
Hunger. Life
Growth. Life
Struggle. Life.
Fruit. Life.

By Grace

"For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourself; it is the gift of God"

"Not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us."

"By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus."

"I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by Me."

"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

Ricochets September 2015

When someone intentionally and maliciously hurts you, the reason is simple: God needs another Joseph.
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Caleb spent 45 years wandering and battling just so he could get his hands on those giants and prove that with God's help those giants had no chance. Man, was that 46th year marvelous. Well, not so much for those giants.

Keep being faithful.
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 Yes, God needs you to be precisely the individual that He created you to be. Why? Because the individual He created you to be fits perfectly into the precise place He needs you to complete the body so it can do its work in the kingdom. Together is the essence of Christianity.

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 The spiritual wrestling match is fought on one's knees. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood."

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 He lived a life "full of grace and truth." That's not fifty percent grace and fifty percent truth. His life always reflected fully, lovingly, and uncompromisingly grace and truth. We must live the same way if people are going to behold His glory in us. Anything less and all they will see is us. That's not such a "pretty picture."

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We always get impatient with God when He calls on us to wait. Yet, waiting is the foundation of a faith that can soar in the winds of adversity. No waiting in our lives. No eagle's wings. "Wait, I say, on the Lord."

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 Jesus asked, "Will I find any faith when I come?" Yes, He's asking that question of you and me.  Will He?

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Praise is a lifestyle.

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 The struggle is evidence that you are right where God wants you.

Little Cloud Prayers

Elijah was promised that if he prayed it would rain. So he prayed, and there wasn't even a cloud in the sky. Did he quit praying? Did he doubt God's promise? Not a chance. He prayed again. Still nary a single cloud. This time he quit praying? Not a chance. Prayed again.

Elijah's servant: "Well, there's at least one little cloud, Elijah."

Elijah: "Run for it; a monsoon's coming."

And the monsoon came.

Don't stop praying, trust in the promises of God. And when you see that "little cloud" of promise? Wait until you see the showers of blessing that are right behind that cloud.

"There shall be showers of blessing--this is the promise of love; there shall be seasons refreshing, sent from the Savior above. Showers of blessing, showers of blessing we need; mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead."

Keep praying til you see that little cloud.

Remember

Spiritually and physically exhausted?
Deeply burdened?
Confused by your circumstances?
Depressed?
Teetering on the edge of despair?

Remember His Cross:
All of your sins have been completely and eternally forgiven--removed from My presence as far as the East is from the West.

Remember His Commitment:
The work I began in you I will finish until the day you stand in My very presence fully accepted in Me, the Beloved.

Remember His Call:
Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.

Remember His Confidence:
My grace is sufficient for you. My stength is made perfect through your weakness.

Remember His Companionship:
Take My yoke upon you, learn of Me. Together--shared--the yoke is easy, the burden light, the soul at rest. Cast your care on Me. No one cares for you like I do.

Too Often

Too often we as believers look at the culture, at the world around us, and cry out against it's evil when what we should be doing is falling on our knees and pleading with God, "Lord, I hide my faith behind so many baskets; my saltiness is so lacking; please enbolden me to let my light shine. Please enable me to create in others a thirst for You. May others see that the good that is in me is totally the outworking of Your grace and love active in my life. May Christ be seen in me."

When

When the Lord's answer to your prayer is the one thing you didn't want to happen, the following are still true:

He loves you just as deeply, unconditionally, and lavishly as He always has.
He doesn't make mistakes.
He is filled with empathy for your every tear and for your sense of disappointment.
He has placed His confidence in you that your response to His will---to your circumstances--will bring glory to His name.
He will never leave you nor forsake you.
He is going to bring people into your life that you might encourage them to trust His love and wisdom as they experience similar sorrows and disappointments. And He will do so for the rest of your life.
All things work together for good--even if the good is not revealed to you until you stand in His presence. And hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
It will be worth it all to have followed Him.

The Heart

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.

Out of the abundance of his heart, a man speaks.

A broken and a contrite heart Thou will not despise, O Lord.

Let the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Create for me a clean heart, O God

Incline my heart to Thy testimonies

Thy word I have treasured in my heart that I might not sin against Thee

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

"Search me O God, and know my heart today; try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray; see if there be some wicked way in me; cleanse me from every sin, and set me free."

Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart.

Doers

"Be doers of the word and not hearers only."
Don't miss the balance here. It does not say that "hearing" is unnecessary, let alone "wrong." Remember, "faith comes by hearing." Jesus said multiple times, "He that has an ear to hear, let him hear." Mary was told that the one necessary thing was to sit at His feet and hear what He had to teach. Hearing His Word spoken by others or moving in our hearts by the Spirit's wooing as we read the Word is vitally important. Vitally.
Doing is necessary because it reflects the depth of my love for Him, my confidence--my faith--in His promises, the steadfastness of my hope, and my passion for His will. If I just hear and don't do, the life of Christ in me will never be seen. The radiance of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" will be mere words and lack the Spirit's power to transform others by my testimony to His faithfulness--"I live, but yet not I. Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the power of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Feast on the Word--through Bible teaching, preaching, reading, studying, singing spiritual songs. Be a hearer. But never stop there. Let Christ live through you. It's really a simple choice. Do I want to be a stagnant, complacent Christian? Or do I want to walk in the Spirit and so fulfill the loving law of Christ? Do I want to love the Lord my God with all my heart and love my neighbor as He loves me? Then, I must be a doer of the word, and not a hearer only. Must.

The Real

For the child of God nothing is more dangerous than to look only at the present circumstances instead of focusing on the treasures of eternity. The eternal promises are even more real and certain and tangible than the tribulations of the present tense.

The Goodness of God

How often have I sung "God is so good?" Yet, as I have been reminded lately, how often do I demonstrate through my actions that I doubt that that is true? Is my "contentment" too often resignation?--"Well, that's just the way things are. There's nothing I can do about it. I may as well just accept it. God's not going to do anything about it." Do I pray disbelieving? I don't think God is going to change that person's heart, but I'm supposed to pray for them, so . . .? Do I fear my future believing God is not going to do good for me? Do I quit asking Him for what I think I need, because I doubt He will do good in my life? 

There isn't anyone in my life beyond the reach of God's grace. Anyone.

There isn't any future ahead of me that will not be "greater than I can imagine."

There isn't anything I need that He will not supply--and abundantly more.

God deliver my heart from the doubts of your goodness. Fill my prayers with fervent confidence in your promise to always do good. Root out the complacency in my faith before it becomes a bitter spirit. May I with a child's faith in a loving Father sing with joy, unwavering, unquestioning joy, "God is so good. God is so good. God is so good, He's so good to me."

Revival

The next President of the United States, whoever that may be, has no chance of stirring up a revival in America. Only prayer can make it happen. And revival occurs one person at a time. And not in the life of the "other guy." And revival is not a stirring up of religious ritual. It's a heart thing--a melding of will and love--a steady obedience to God's commands no matter the personal cost. God's revival throughout history has always been the setting aside of a faithful remnant, a faithful few. Will you be one of the few?
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 No human being can throw up a roadblock to God's plans--thwart God's will. Whatever you see going on around you, the hand of God is at work in it. Even that which is meant for evil, God will use for good. Grace will triumph.

Loved

The eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign. Lord of Lords and King of Kings knows me as His child. Knows all there is to know about me--deeds, thoughts, motives, doubts, faults, fears, complaints, hypocrisy--and loves me. Not "loves me anyway"--just devotedly loves me.

To Ignore

There's all the difference in the world between ignoring something and ignorance. The latter is regrettable, but the former is tragic--at least in spiritual terms. God consistently tells us in Scripture that those who know what to do, who know what is right, but refuse to do so, or in some cases, turn from doing what they know is right, are under a stricter judgment. Those who have sat under the teaching of God's Word and refuse to accept it and obey its precepts are in grave danger now and eternally. To simply ignore God's truth or to proclaim that you don't believe it any more as if by doing so you can escape responsibility for it is a fool's mindset. God is neither impressed by nor debased by such a profession. Those in ignorance can be taught. Those who ignore or deny are stiff-necked, unteachable. God in His loving patience will give time for repentance--but not all the time in the world.

Psalm 1

"How spiritually prosperous is the man (or woman) who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!"
The choices you don't make are just as vital to your spiritual walk as the choices you do make. And not many choices are more significant than the friends and confidants you chose to be active participants in your life--those with whom you fellowship. Wrong friends. Wrong path. Wrong walk. A lifetime of wrong choices. The loss of a sense of His presence. And what a loss that is!

"But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night."
His delight--not his duty. A choice to hunger and thirst after righteousness is the only path to satisfaction--to godliness with contentment. To a life of rich blessing. Is your mind so saturated with His Word that day or night His freedom giving thoughts are constantly active, constantly counseling you in the way that you should go?

"And he (or she) will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he grows toward maturity."
How does choosing the right friends and choosing to delightfully feast on the Word impact the quality of your life? You will stand firm in the storms. You will endure the worst droughts. You will reflect His character to all those around you--be a blessing to those God has placed in your life. You will grow on to spiritual maturity in all that you do.

"The wicked are not so, but they are like chaff which the wind drives away."
They are spiritually dead. Lifeless. No fruit. No substance. The opposite of everything you are in Him. What fellowship has light with darkness?

"Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord approves the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."
Choose your friends wisely. Walk in His way not their way. Delight in His Counsel not their empty words. Be His evergreen. Firmly planted, not as powerless as chaff in the winds of life's storms. How spiritually prosperous are you? How spiritually prosperous will be the whole course of your life? Whose approval are you seeking?

Psalm 32

Who you are:
How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!
Blessed. Transgressions forgiven--lifted up and taken away. Sin covered--made invisible to God. Iniquity, not imputed--it will never be put on your account. Blessed.

Your attitude toward your sin:
When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to Thee, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"; and Thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found; surely in a flood of great waters they shall not reach him. Thou are my hiding place; Thou dost preserve me from trouble; Thou does surround me with songs of deliverance.
He, the One whose heart's desire is to walk with us all day long in the light, reveals to us our sin that we might confess and find cleansing--live in the rhythm of His songs of deliverance. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another."

His promise:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, otherwise they will not come near to you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked; but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous ones, and shout for joy all you who are upright in heart.
Instruction. Teaching. Concerned counsel. Nearness. Trust, be glad, and shout in His promise. Don't resist like the stubborn mule. "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."