There is a time when you feel completely drained of energy. You are so tired your bones ache. All you can do is sit down and stare into space without a thought to your surroundings.
Prayer is an effort because the words are trapped in your throat. Maybe it's not so much being overwhelmed but just underwhelmed. You find no reward in your work. You find it both grueling and grinding. Even the incentive to do your best is evaporated by the mundane and trivial things. Daily activities extract your time and energy leaving no room for creativity and spontaneity. The investments you make in relationships seem to produce no return of joy and pleasure.
You can say in essence the blood flow of life is stymied. As a result the landscape of your life fades to a mottled gray with no sharp or distinguishing features that speak of a colorful and vibrant life. When people are about to faint they experience a "grayout".
So I'm not speaking about depression but weariness in well doing. Galatians 6:9 says, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (KJV). There is a fainting that can occur in the mind of the believer that can lead to the temptation of resigning to fate rather that faith in God.
You can faint when you are hungry. And this is true for those who are spiritually empty because they lack true nourishment. One crumb of bread falling from the Master's table is enough to bring us to life again. The Syrophoenician woman understood this well when crying out to Jesus for her daughter who was demon possessed (Matthew 15:21-28). All that was left in her was a cry. A cry that turned everything around.
When you are empty all it takes is a cry for God to feed You. Feed me oh, Bread of Life! Otherwise, we will feed on things the world offers which will makes us sick and more famished. Beloved, what we eat matters in having a spiritually healthy and full life.
Daily read His word. Minster to Him by rehearsing the promises He made to you in prayer. He will feed you and in turn you will feed others with the strength He provides. Remember this promise, "Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." (Psalms 37:3).
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Overcoming Regret
Overcoming regret hinges on a simple but powerful conjunct adverb: yet.
Israel sinned in rejecting the Lord as their King. They wanted men to rule over them like other nations and fight their battles (I Samuel 8:7). After the king was appointed, Samuel encourages the people by saying, "Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet [emphasis mine] turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;" (I Samuel 12:20).
The sin of crowning a king was done yet to follow after God was a choice still open. A choice that matters when overcoming regret.
How many times have you fallen in the same sin? You make promises and vows never to do it again. But you find yourself flat on your face wondering how did I get here, again? You may understand intellectually God has forgiven and forgotten your sins but somehow your heart is captured by regret. Perhaps the consequences only remind you of the foolish mistakes you regrettably made and undoing the mess is not an option.
Yet.
Yet right now you can call out to God for help. His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). In other words, fresh mercy each day acts as a reset button. Yesterday is gone yet today His fresh mercy helps us to follow after Him regardless to our present condition or state of mind.
Years ago I went through a very dark period in my life with a health crisis and possible job loss when one day God drew a line. You can worship me and live or stay in a place of regret and self-pity and die. One afternoon with great weakness and a stubborn attitude I went to my knees. I raised my hands in surrender. "Thank you for this life You have given me. Thank you for the pain You have brought so in my affliction I will not go astray but keep Your Word." A thin thread of light pierced the darkness in my soul. My eyes were open to His love I've not known until that moment. Consequences remained yet worship flowed freely with supernatural grace. I stood to my feet and stepped toward Him. And so began a supernatural shift from the not yet moment that was presently clouded by painful regrets to see what goodness and mercy He had in store in the days ahead.
Beloved, we can not remain in a place of regret. A place that will keep us on the edge of the Promise Land which is ours to possess but we are paralyzed by regret. God will not live there with us in regret. He moves on and so we must go with Him! We must through His power press into Him with that single word on our lips. Hosea understood this in his time when the nation was far from God. He writes, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet [emphasis mine] I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:18, KJV).
Worship will always cause our eyes to be fixed on Him rather than on our poor circumstances which can binds us to regret.
Finally, we have this promise that helps us overcome regret because we are changing and becoming more like Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet [emphasis mine] appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2, KJV).
Israel sinned in rejecting the Lord as their King. They wanted men to rule over them like other nations and fight their battles (I Samuel 8:7). After the king was appointed, Samuel encourages the people by saying, "Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet [emphasis mine] turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;" (I Samuel 12:20).
The sin of crowning a king was done yet to follow after God was a choice still open. A choice that matters when overcoming regret.
How many times have you fallen in the same sin? You make promises and vows never to do it again. But you find yourself flat on your face wondering how did I get here, again? You may understand intellectually God has forgiven and forgotten your sins but somehow your heart is captured by regret. Perhaps the consequences only remind you of the foolish mistakes you regrettably made and undoing the mess is not an option.
Yet.
Yet right now you can call out to God for help. His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). In other words, fresh mercy each day acts as a reset button. Yesterday is gone yet today His fresh mercy helps us to follow after Him regardless to our present condition or state of mind.
Years ago I went through a very dark period in my life with a health crisis and possible job loss when one day God drew a line. You can worship me and live or stay in a place of regret and self-pity and die. One afternoon with great weakness and a stubborn attitude I went to my knees. I raised my hands in surrender. "Thank you for this life You have given me. Thank you for the pain You have brought so in my affliction I will not go astray but keep Your Word." A thin thread of light pierced the darkness in my soul. My eyes were open to His love I've not known until that moment. Consequences remained yet worship flowed freely with supernatural grace. I stood to my feet and stepped toward Him. And so began a supernatural shift from the not yet moment that was presently clouded by painful regrets to see what goodness and mercy He had in store in the days ahead.
Beloved, we can not remain in a place of regret. A place that will keep us on the edge of the Promise Land which is ours to possess but we are paralyzed by regret. God will not live there with us in regret. He moves on and so we must go with Him! We must through His power press into Him with that single word on our lips. Hosea understood this in his time when the nation was far from God. He writes, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet [emphasis mine] I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:18, KJV).
Worship will always cause our eyes to be fixed on Him rather than on our poor circumstances which can binds us to regret.
Finally, we have this promise that helps us overcome regret because we are changing and becoming more like Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet [emphasis mine] appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2, KJV).
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Resting In Love
As many can testify they love God but fewer can say they rest well in His love.
You may find prayer laborious. You try to find the right words or you just don't speak at all. You feel an overwhelming sense of failure and shame that somehow you missed God. And you secretly wonder if He missed you altogether as if you are invisible. Reading the Bible is dry and boring but you plow through reading the Scriptures because it's something required as a believer. You been taught to stay in the Word to ward off temptation and the devil rather than enjoy the heart of God. Attending church is work in itself. Meeting and greeting those on Sunday morning requires a stiff upper lip and repeating catches phrases like "God bless you!" or "Oh, I'm doing great."
Truth be told you are exhausted and frustrated by the outward performance of Christian living. You have this nagging feeling there must be more to this life in Christ than what you are experiencing.
Beloved, Christ provides grace in our walk with Him so we can rest assured in His unchanging love for us. Otherwise, the Christian walk becomes a legalistic duty of dos and don'ts and we miss the rich rewards of knowing His heart and His ways. After Jesus rose from the dead He meets with three people in John 20 and 21.
Mary came to the tomb in expectations to see a dead Christ not a risen and living Savior. When Jesus called her name it says she turned to Him. Her eyes were open to see Him not as the gardener as she first thought but Rabboni, her teacher. He instructed her that from this moment onward she would need to relate to Him through faith. His bodily form would not be necessarily seen (except through the expression of His church) but that He must be perceived through faith (John 20:17). To the extend beloved we rest well in love is the measure we trust Him when He can not be seen in our lives.
To rest in His love means a shift in our focus away from the natural to the supernatural.
Thomas was such a man who had to see and touch in order to believe Christ was alive. In His mercy the Lord took up his offer and allowed Thomas the joy of touching Him. However, the Lord ordered him to stop doubting and believe (John 20:27). There is a time in our Christian walk where we must stop limiting God to work through our lives. Resting well in love means we make no demand of Him to give us reasons and explanations about His ways. Too believers want answers before they will give themselves completely to God. The Lord will give us a portion of knowledge and we are to walk in that light of truth believing He will direct us along the way - not blindly and randomly - but with purpose that one day it will become very clear.
The last individual was Peter. It was not an issue of faith that Jesus wanted to deal with Peter though he denied Him. And it was not an issue of demanding evidence that He had risen like Thomas. The issue was love. Jesus asked three times if Peter loved Him (John 21: 15-17). I believe the same question will be asked of us that cuts through all the questions, doubts and fears. How we respond to Jesus shows if we are able to let go and lean back on His chest like the beloved disciple.
These three individuals (and others) had to relate to Christ differently after His resurrection. The depth of their love expressed through faith and obedience was a sure testimony of their rest in God's love for them.
If you don't rest well in love ask the Lord to quicken your heart to be open to Him. Perhaps you were wounded as a child or suffered from those in church who may have been unkind or cruel. Your heart shut down but worse you hold God to a distance and relate to Him from a place of pain and unbelief. Your view of Christ may be like Mary who could not comprehend a resurrected Christ and of her life He wanted to make alive again. Or perhaps you demand evidence and answers to your questions so your mind can rest in the Lord like Thomas but it requires faith. Faith in a real God who may not always be evident in the natural. Or it could be a matter of a love for the Lord given to others as Jesus tells Peter to feed His sheep. The same sheep that might have hurt and wounded you.
Beloved, let us not be those who refuse the rest found in His love as Isaiah 30:15 tells us, "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it." (NLT).
You may find prayer laborious. You try to find the right words or you just don't speak at all. You feel an overwhelming sense of failure and shame that somehow you missed God. And you secretly wonder if He missed you altogether as if you are invisible. Reading the Bible is dry and boring but you plow through reading the Scriptures because it's something required as a believer. You been taught to stay in the Word to ward off temptation and the devil rather than enjoy the heart of God. Attending church is work in itself. Meeting and greeting those on Sunday morning requires a stiff upper lip and repeating catches phrases like "God bless you!" or "Oh, I'm doing great."
Truth be told you are exhausted and frustrated by the outward performance of Christian living. You have this nagging feeling there must be more to this life in Christ than what you are experiencing.
Beloved, Christ provides grace in our walk with Him so we can rest assured in His unchanging love for us. Otherwise, the Christian walk becomes a legalistic duty of dos and don'ts and we miss the rich rewards of knowing His heart and His ways. After Jesus rose from the dead He meets with three people in John 20 and 21.
Mary came to the tomb in expectations to see a dead Christ not a risen and living Savior. When Jesus called her name it says she turned to Him. Her eyes were open to see Him not as the gardener as she first thought but Rabboni, her teacher. He instructed her that from this moment onward she would need to relate to Him through faith. His bodily form would not be necessarily seen (except through the expression of His church) but that He must be perceived through faith (John 20:17). To the extend beloved we rest well in love is the measure we trust Him when He can not be seen in our lives.
To rest in His love means a shift in our focus away from the natural to the supernatural.
Thomas was such a man who had to see and touch in order to believe Christ was alive. In His mercy the Lord took up his offer and allowed Thomas the joy of touching Him. However, the Lord ordered him to stop doubting and believe (John 20:27). There is a time in our Christian walk where we must stop limiting God to work through our lives. Resting well in love means we make no demand of Him to give us reasons and explanations about His ways. Too believers want answers before they will give themselves completely to God. The Lord will give us a portion of knowledge and we are to walk in that light of truth believing He will direct us along the way - not blindly and randomly - but with purpose that one day it will become very clear.
The last individual was Peter. It was not an issue of faith that Jesus wanted to deal with Peter though he denied Him. And it was not an issue of demanding evidence that He had risen like Thomas. The issue was love. Jesus asked three times if Peter loved Him (John 21: 15-17). I believe the same question will be asked of us that cuts through all the questions, doubts and fears. How we respond to Jesus shows if we are able to let go and lean back on His chest like the beloved disciple.
These three individuals (and others) had to relate to Christ differently after His resurrection. The depth of their love expressed through faith and obedience was a sure testimony of their rest in God's love for them.
If you don't rest well in love ask the Lord to quicken your heart to be open to Him. Perhaps you were wounded as a child or suffered from those in church who may have been unkind or cruel. Your heart shut down but worse you hold God to a distance and relate to Him from a place of pain and unbelief. Your view of Christ may be like Mary who could not comprehend a resurrected Christ and of her life He wanted to make alive again. Or perhaps you demand evidence and answers to your questions so your mind can rest in the Lord like Thomas but it requires faith. Faith in a real God who may not always be evident in the natural. Or it could be a matter of a love for the Lord given to others as Jesus tells Peter to feed His sheep. The same sheep that might have hurt and wounded you.
Beloved, let us not be those who refuse the rest found in His love as Isaiah 30:15 tells us, "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it." (NLT).
Saturday, October 4, 2014
Judge Not Yourself
Paul speaking about the call on his life writes, "I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself." (I Corinthians 4:3, NIV). There was a freedom Paul learned in Christ of not judging himself. He understood God is the righteous judge of the heart.
In the court of law, circumstantial evidence and facts is presented to established beyond reasonable doubt a person's guilt or innocence. After the verdict is read questions of justice may remain because some things at the time may be unknown or hidden. One time I sat on a jury panel to determine if a man borrowed or stole his girl friend's car. Did the relationship imply he was at liberty to use it though she expressly said he was not to take her car? It was a question that made for a lot of debate.
Beloved, man will always judge by appearance. Samuel did this when looking at the sons of Jesse for King Saul's replacement but God chose David who was not present at the time (I Samuel 16:7). Likewise when choosing two apostles they prayed, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen" (Acts 1:24, KJV).
Any human measure of judging oneself will fall short of God's perfect justice. God knows every intent of the heart.
To be your own judge and jury makes for a very frustrating self imposed bondage. You have a wicked thought so you go into overdrive. You may recite Scriptures to take it into captivity. You may even confess you enjoyed the tantalizing thought. You make promises to God to think better and holy thoughts. When we judge our own hearts we rely on human wisdom to judge what we perceive is wrong and make a judgement call to what is required to make it right. However, God knows what is at the root of our sins and failures and only He can remedy the problem.
When we judge ourselves we in turn will judge others often with greater severity and harshness. We will compare our failures to that of another as being greater and more grievous. There is little room for understanding, compassion and mercy.
Beloved, we need to rest in God's work of justification. We are made right and clean in God's eyes through the blood of Jesus. Yes, we will fail and sin but there is mercy extended to those who truly repent and turn from their sins. Let God have the final say regarding the matters of our heart. This means surrender the desire to have the control to be judge and jury. There is a freedom from the labor of making yourself right in the eyes of God when we understand God has the power to change us into something we could never be in our own strength. (I Corinthians 6:11)
In the court of law, circumstantial evidence and facts is presented to established beyond reasonable doubt a person's guilt or innocence. After the verdict is read questions of justice may remain because some things at the time may be unknown or hidden. One time I sat on a jury panel to determine if a man borrowed or stole his girl friend's car. Did the relationship imply he was at liberty to use it though she expressly said he was not to take her car? It was a question that made for a lot of debate.
Beloved, man will always judge by appearance. Samuel did this when looking at the sons of Jesse for King Saul's replacement but God chose David who was not present at the time (I Samuel 16:7). Likewise when choosing two apostles they prayed, "Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen" (Acts 1:24, KJV).
Any human measure of judging oneself will fall short of God's perfect justice. God knows every intent of the heart.
To be your own judge and jury makes for a very frustrating self imposed bondage. You have a wicked thought so you go into overdrive. You may recite Scriptures to take it into captivity. You may even confess you enjoyed the tantalizing thought. You make promises to God to think better and holy thoughts. When we judge our own hearts we rely on human wisdom to judge what we perceive is wrong and make a judgement call to what is required to make it right. However, God knows what is at the root of our sins and failures and only He can remedy the problem.
When we judge ourselves we in turn will judge others often with greater severity and harshness. We will compare our failures to that of another as being greater and more grievous. There is little room for understanding, compassion and mercy.
Beloved, we need to rest in God's work of justification. We are made right and clean in God's eyes through the blood of Jesus. Yes, we will fail and sin but there is mercy extended to those who truly repent and turn from their sins. Let God have the final say regarding the matters of our heart. This means surrender the desire to have the control to be judge and jury. There is a freedom from the labor of making yourself right in the eyes of God when we understand God has the power to change us into something we could never be in our own strength. (I Corinthians 6:11)