Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Trusting A Worthy God

“By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.” – Job 37:10-13
“Once we give ourselves up to God, shall we attempt to get hold of what can never belong to us--tomorrow? Our lives are His, our times in His hand, He is Lord over what will happen, never mind what may happen. When we prayed "Thy will be done," did we suppose He did not hear us? He heard indeed, and daily makes our business His and partakes of our lives. If my life is once surrendered, all is well. Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine! Today is mine. Tomorrow is none of my business. If I peer anxiously into the fog of the future, I will strain my spiritual eyes so that I will not see clearly what is required of me now.” - Elisabeth Elliot
O Lord, let my trust forever be in You. May I not try to foolishly grab the cares of my life back once they have been surrendered to You. When I read Job 37 I am once again amazed at how mighty and majestic You are for You “thunder wondrously with Your voice, and do great things that we cannot comprehend” and “by Your breath ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast.” Yet in spite of being Creator of the universe and controlling the waters with Your breath, which shows Your power, You are still concerned with the details of Your children’s lives. You sent Your Son to save me and loved me first, so I will trust in You. Thank You for the truth that no matter what else happens in life, my greatest need has already been met…the need for a savior. Accomplish Your will in my life. Amen

“And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord,
have not forsaken those who seek you.” – Psalm 9:10

Monday, September 29, 2008

Doing Him Good All The Days Of My Life...

I have been thinking about the verse in Proverbs 31:12 “She does him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” It’s true that this verse is speaking about the Proverbs 31 woman’s husband, but I think it can apply to our relationship with God as well. It says she does him good “all” the days of her life, not just the days after she got married. This includes past, present and future days. So, that of course led me to question if I am doing God good with the way I am living my life? Am I redeeming the time He has given me and living purposefully? Am I preparing myself for what the Lord may have for me in the future or am I selfishly just floating along waiting for what I think will be the next best thing? Ten years from now would I be able to stand before the Lord or a husband the God may have for me and say that I have lived faithfully and have done them good and not harm? These questions have sobered me and I realize that I often fail to “live”. To really “live” in the good of where God has me. I can sometimes categorize my life into sections or what I call “seasons”, but God has called me to be concerned about today and not tomorrow. Just because things may not be going the way we think they should, doesn’t mean we are to stop living our life to wait for something better. God has given us our lives to live for His glory…when will I rise to the occasion? C.S. Lewis says it this way about the interruptions of life,

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.”

God is calling me to do the next thing. Why put off until tomorrow what I can do today? And why put off becoming and doing the best? I want to do good and not harm for the Lord and all those He has placed and will place in my life. I want walk out my days carefully, making the best use of my time. Doing this will mean saying no to a lot of things, but when we say no to one thing, we can say yes to something else and that may be God’s best for us.

“Many a questioning, many a fear,
Many a doubt, hath its quieting here.
Moment my moment, let down from Heaven,
Time, opportunity, guidance, are given.
Fear not tomorrows, Child of the King,
Trust them with Jesus, ‘DO THE NEXT THING.’
Do it immediately; do it with prayer;
Do it reliantly, casting all care;
Do it with reverence, tracing His Hand
Who placed it before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on Omnipotence, safe ’neath His wing,
Leave all resultings, ‘DO THE NEXT THING.’”
--author unknown

To do this means getting practical. Carolyn Mahaney suggests setting aside a time to pray about and plan a list of priorities that you believe the Lord would have you work on. Here is a sample list that she created for herself.

“List of Priorities:
• Grow in godliness.
• Love my family.
• Serve in the church.
• Fellowship with Christians.
• Evangelize non-Christians.
• Attend to my work.
• Care for my physical health.
Once you’ve listed your priorities…evaluate yourself, prayerfully going through the priorities one at a time. Under each category, assess how you are doing—what is going well and what needs to change. Then consider how you can grow in that key area in your life.” – Carolyn Mahaney

So, all of this is the latest thing the Lord has brought to my attention. I know for myself I will most likely need help in creating my list of priorities from my parent’s. They have an outside perspective that I don’t have on my life. I know I will fail in doing good many, many times from this day on, but I know the Lord is faithful to help and sustain and my prayer is to be able to say I have done the “next thing” and done it for God’s glory. I want to prepare myself for the present and the future.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Unanswered Prayers


"His purpose concerning us is not to make things easy for us
—but to make something of us."- J.R. Miller

"There are times when God seems to be silent to us. To our earnest supplications, he answers not a word. We are told to ask and we shall receive—to seek, and we shall find—to knock, and it shall be opened unto us. Yet there come times when we ask imploringly, and seem not to receive; when, though we seek with intense eagerness, we seem not to find; when we knock until our hands are bruised and bleeding, and there seems to be no opening of the door. Sometimes the heavens appear to be brass above us, as we ask, "Is there anywhere an ear to hear our pleadings? Is there anywhere a heart to feel sympathy with us in our need?"Nothing is so awful as this silence of God—to feel that communication with him is cut off. It is a pathetic prayer in which a psalm writer pleads: "Be not silent to me, lest I become like those who go down into the pit." Anything from God is better than that he be silent to us."-Miller

God is teaching me a lot about His character right now. Last night I heard a message that spoke of God being our "Keeper". Like a shepherd tends to his flock and would even lay down his life for his sheep, so God does with us. Anything in our life is there because He allowed it to be there. Nothing snuck in when God wasn't looking, but He has sovereignly allowed it. This led me to think about my prayers. There have been many times where I have legalistically approached prayer and when I didn't think my prayers were being answered I was tempted to think that I must have prayed the wrong way. But God doesn't work like that. Everything God does has a purpose, even silence. I am learning trust and patience in a lot of things right now and prayer is one of them. J.R. Miller wrote a wonderful article on prayer that truly helped to encourage me and give me fresh hope and faith in God's character and plan.

Miller's above words describe how I have felt many times. Times when I have felt that cry out to God as I might, there was no answer. I never became angry as a result of this, just lonely, desperate and confused. But these feelings are not informed by truth, because even though I may not perceive it, may prayers are being answered all around me. We sometimes expect the answer to prayers to come with pomp and blare, but they often come silently and ease into our lives. God's answers to our prayers are always for our good and His glory. I've included parts of Miller's article below. I don't even have the word to explain what God has spoken to my heart through Miller's words...I only know that God is confirming His love and care for me more and more everyday and I want to honor that love and care by living like I trust Him. It may be a moment by moment battle for me, but it's one I want to fight. " Lord, grant me the patience to wait on Your timing and trust in Your answers."

"We find ourselves in the midst of circumstances which appear adverse to our happiness and good. We seem about to be crushed by sorrows, by disappointments, by trials, or by antagonisms. We pray to be saved from these distressful conditions. No answer seems to come. The shadow deepens; the blows fall. We sit in the darkness, and say that God did not answer our prayers. We are unaware of the blessing that really came to us in the time of our pain. The cup of suffering was not taken away; but we were secretly strengthened, so that we were able to drink it. Thus, there is a large field of praying in which answers come—but come unrecognized. We have been blessed, although we knew it not. We did not perceive the blessing when it was given to us. We did not understand that the good things we were receiving so plentifully, were answers to our prayers. We thought God was not heeding our requests, when really he was giving us abundant answer every day!

But there are other prayers that really are not answered. God is silent to us when we ask. Yet there is a reason for his silence. It is better we should not have the things we want and plead for. For example, we ask God to lift away our burdens. But to do this would rob us of blessings which can come to us only through the bearing of the burden; and our Father loves us too well to give us present ease—at the cost of future and eternal good. There are mistaken notions current about the way God promises to help us. People think that whenever they have a little trouble to endure, a bit of hard path to go over, a load to carry, a sorrow to meet, or a trail of any kind—all they have to do is to call upon God, and he will at once deliver them, take away the burden or the sorrow which threatens, free them from trial. They think that is what God promises to do. They imagine that when anything goes a little wrong with them, all they have to do is to pray, and God will set it right. But this is not the manner of God's love. His purpose concerning us is not to make things easy for us—but to make something of us.

So when we pray to God to save us from all care, to take the struggles out of our life, to make the paths mossy, to lift away all loads—he simply will not do it. It would be most unloving in him to do so. Prayers of this kind, therefore, go unanswered. We must carry the burden ourselves. God wants us to learn life's lessons, and to do this, we must be left to work out the problems for ourselves. There are rich blessings that can be gotten only in sorrow. It would be a short-sighted love, indeed, that would heed our cries and spare us from the sorrow because we cried for this, thus depriving us of the wonderful blessings which can be gotten only in the sorrow.

There is yet another class of prayers which appear to be unanswered—but whose answer is only delayed for wise reasons. Ofttimes we are not able at the moment to receive the things we ask for. Or it may be that the things we pray for cannot be given to us until they have been prepared for us. Suppose you were to plant a young fruit-tree, and were to begin to pray for fruit from its branches; could your prayer be answered at once? It is thus with many things we ask for in our pleading—they must be grown before they can be given to us. God delays to answer, that he may give us in the end, better things than could have been given at the beginning. He seems silent to us when we plead; but it is not the silence of indifference, nor the silence of refusal—but the silence of love, which really assents to our request, and sets about preparing for us the blessings we crave. We need only patience, to wait our Father's time.

Here it is that ofttimes we fail. We cannot wait for God. We think he is indifferent to us, because he does not instantly give us what we crave. We fret and vex ourselves over the unanswering of the very prayers which God is really answering, as speedily as the blessings can be made ready for us, or as we can be made ready to receive them. We should teach ourselves to trust our Father in all that concerns our prayers—what he will give, what he shall withhold, and the time and the manner of his giving. The prayers may have been answered in ways in which we did not recognize our requests. They may be, indeed, unanswered, because to answer them would have been unkindness to us, or would have wrought hurt to others. Or the answers may have been delayed until we are made ready to receive them, or while God is preparing them for us."

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Has Your Forever Been Changed?


What does “Forever” mean? It means without ending, always existing, perpetual and ceaseless. For something as important as “Forever”, it’s pretty obvious that whatever that is going to be is worth thinking over. Why the sudden pondering of this word? Well as I drove to work this morning, a song was playing and our kind God took one line from that song and pierced my heart with it. “And to know that your forever has been changed.” There is only one true place of “Forever” and that is where we'll be after we die. Will someone’s “Forever” be with God or eternally separated from Him? My “Forever” was set. I was running as fast as I could to a “Forever” away from God. But God in His rich mercy picked me up and gave me a new life. One spent with Him. My “Forever” has been changed. Now every day I live has a new direction, a new purpose, new joys, new challenges, new loves. This new “Forever” affects everything. It changes our convictions, our desires, jobs, places we live, relationships, current marriages and future ones. All is now done for the glory of the One who has saved us and with a view of where we are headed. Until God saves us we are all headed down a destructive path to “Forever”, but because God sent His Son to die for our sins we can be forgiven and have the hope of living with Him in eternity. Isn’t God good to redirect us to something better than we deserve or can imagine? I pray I will not live like I am still headed toward the world’s “Forever”, but that I will strive to live in light of eternity.

“The deepest longing of your heart is for one person and one place. Jesus is that person. Heaven is that place. A thousand counterfeits vie for your attention, trying to convince you that they are what you’re looking for. But you’ll never find true satisfaction with what the Shadowlands of this world have to offer. What you really crave can only be found in the land of substance: heaven.” – Randy Alcorn

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Fearing God Is Trusting God...


Fear of the Lord has been a theme God keeps bringing up in my life as of late and the truth is...it has been severely lacking. Without fear of the Lord, any wisdom I thought I might have had is overridden because scripture is clear that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. (Proverbs 9:10) Carolyn McCully puts it this way,

"Being conscious of God's approval or His displeasure is what the Bible calls "fear of the Lord." It means to be in awe of, or to respect, more than merely to be afraid. Conversely, what we now call peer pressure, people-pleasing, or co-dependency is what the Bible calls "fear of man." In a nutshell, the fear of man can either be a fear of what others think of us or will do to us, or a craving for approval and a fear of rejection."

When I was younger I struggled with fear of man, but I hadn't really thought it was an area I still needed help with, but the heart is deceitful right? In relationships, a lack of fearing God will quickly manifest itself. If I am trying to control the way a friendship should go, being concerned about someone rejecting me or craving their good opinion more then God's, then my view of man is big and my view of God is small. If I truly fear and trust God, I don't need to be worried about whether a friendship will last or if they think well of me, because God is in control of who He wants in our lives. Only God can completely satisfy. Not our parents, siblings, friends or their good opinions.

"What is it that shame-fear and rejection-fear have in common? To use a biblical image, they both indicate that people are our favorite idol. We exalt them and their perceived power above God. We worship them as ones who have God-like exposing gazes (shame-fear) or God-like ability to "fill" us with esteem, love, admiration, acceptance, respect, and other psychological desires (rejection-fear).... Like all idols, people are created things, not the Creator (Rom. 1:25), and they do not deserve our worship. They are worshipped because we perceive that they have power to give us something. We think they can bless us."- Ed Welch

Proverbs 29:25 "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe."

When we fear and trust in anything other than God, we are in essence slapping Him in the face and telling Him that we know He loves us, but it just isn't enough. We know He supplies all our "Needs", but we have some "Wants" that we desire right now. True fear of the Lord will manifest itself in our hearts, minds and actions. It will help us say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

"The most radical treatment for the fear of man is the fear of the Lord. God must be bigger to you than people are.... Regarding other people, our problem is that we need them (for ourselves) more than we love them (for the glory of God). The task God sets for us is to need them less and love them more." - Ed Welch

Fear of man may look different in everyone's life, but the root of the matter is still the same. Most sins start with the breaking of the first commandment, not to have any other gods before the Lord. But even after having broken this commandment more times then I can count, God in His patience and mercy always directs my gaze back to Him. If we failed to fear and trust God yesterday, there is good news...we can start today! God is kind to give us promises as well. Proverbs 29:25 doesn't just give us a warning, but it gives us the promise, "but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe." That is an all encompassing safety. Our lives, hearts, minds, hopes, dreams and salvation are all safe when they are in God. When we fear God, we trust him.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Bleeding God's Sovereignty

Why is it that we often first notice the hard and imperfect things in life? The good and beautiful out number the bad by hundreds, but we sometimes forget that fact. If we could actually see the big picture, we would often find that the things we deem as unlovely God deems as perfect in accordance with His will. The following story that Elisabeth Eliot shared on her website was deeply convicting and inspiring to me. I especially love the part that speaks of living, trusting and loving God in spite of hardship and how a watching world would see that and say “How great their God must be to inspire this kind of loyalty." I hope that God and the world will see me as loyal and always trusting in Him. When I am bruised, broken and cut by the trials that are sure to come in this life, may I bleed the sovereignty of God and may others say, “How great her God must be”.

Title: There Are No Accidents
Author: Elisabeth Elliot

My friend Judy Squier of Portola Valley, California, is one of the most cheerful and radiant women I know. I met her first in a prayer meeting at the beginning of a conference. She was sitting in a wheel chair, and I noticed something funny about her legs. Later that day I saw her with no legs at all. In the evening she was walking around with crutches. Of course I had to ask her some questions. She was born with no legs; she had artificial ones which she used sometimes, but they were tiresome, she said (laughing) and she often left them behind. When I heard of a little baby boy named Brandon Scott, born without arms or legs, I asked if she would write to his parents.

She did: "The first thing I would say is that all that this entails is at least one hundred times harder on the parents than the child. A birth defect by God's grace does not rob childhood of its wonder, nor is a child burdened by high expectations. Given a supportive, creative, and loving family, I know personally that I enjoyed not a less-than-average life nor an average life, but as I've told many, my life has been not ordinary but extra-ordinary.

"I am convinced without a doubt that a loving Heavenly Father oversees the creative miracles in the inner sanctum of each mother's womb (Psalm 139), and that in His sovereignty there are no accidents.
"'What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Creator calls a butterfly.' As humanity we see only the imperfect, underside of God's tapestry of our lives. What we judge to be 'tragic--the most dreaded thing that could happen,' I expect we'll one day see as the awesome reason for the beauty and uniqueness of our life and our family. I think that's why James 1:2 is a favorite verse of mine. Phillips' translation put it this way: 'When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders but welcome them as friends.'
"I love Joni Eareckson Tada's quote. When I saw it on the front of Moody Monthly, October 1982, I was convinced she'd penned the words for my epitaph. Now my husband David is aghast to hear me say I want it on my tombstone! Glory be!
People with disabilities are God's best visual aids to demonstrate who He really is. His power shows up best in weakness. And who by the world's standards is weaker than the mentally or physically disabled? As the world watches, these people persevere. They live, love, trust and obey Him. Eventually the world is forced to say, "How great their God must be to inspire this kind of loyalty."
"Being Christian didn't shield my family from the pain and tears that came with my birth defect. In fact, ten years ago when David and I interviewed our parents for a Keepsake Tape, I was stunned to hear my mother's true feelings. I asked her to tell the hardest thing in her life. Her response: 'the day Judy Ann was born and it still is....' And yet when we as a family look back over the years, our reflections are invariably silenced by the wonder of God's handiwork. Someday I hope to put it in a book and I know it will be to the glory of God.
"Getting married and becoming a mother were dreams I never dared to dream, but God, the doer of all miracles intended that my life be blessed with an incredible husband and three daughters. Emily is nine, Betsy will soon be seven, and Naphtalie Joy is four. I've decided that every handicapped person needs at least one child. They are fantastic helpers and so willing to let me 'borrow their legs' when I need help.
"You as a family have been chosen in a special way to display His unique Masterwork. I pray that your roots of faith will grow deep down into the faithfulness of God's Loving Plan, that you will exchange your inadequacy for the Adequacy of Jesus' resurrection power, and that you will be awed as you witness the fruits of the Spirit manifested in your family."

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The Path Of Happiness...

SAFE WALKING – John MacDuff
"All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies." —Psalm 25:10

The paths of the Lord! My soul! never follow your own paths. If you do, you will be in danger often of following sight rather than faith—choosing the evil, and refusing the good. But "commit your way unto the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." Let this be your prayer, "Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths." Oh! for Caleb's spirit, "wholly to follow the Lord my God"—to follow Him when self must be sacrificed, and hardship must be borne, and trials await me. To "walk with God"—to ask in simple faith, "What would You have me to do?"—to have no will of my own, but this, that God's will is to be my will. Here is safety—here is happiness. Fearlessly follow the Guiding Pillar. He will lead you by a right way, though it may be by a way of hardship, and crosses, and losses, and privations, to the city of God. Oh! the blessedness of thus lying passive in the hands of God, saying "Undertake for me God!"—dwelling with holy gratitude on past mercies and interpositions—these as pledges of future faithfulness and love—hearing His voice behind us, amid life's many perplexities, exclaiming, "This is the way, walk in it!" "Happy," surely, "are every people who are in such a case!" Happy, Reader! will it be for you, if you can form the resolve in a strength greater than you own: "This God shall be my God forever and ever; He shall be my Guide even unto death!"

I thought this devotional by MacDuff was a provoking and encouraging one. Day after day, month after month, year after year, God seems to be driving home the point that He truly is trustworthy and we can walk safely with Him. When our will is His we can have no fear of our desires or hopes not coming to pass, for He will accomplish His will in all things and glorify Himself. God has loved us with an everlasting love and is continually drawing us to Himself. As long as we walk on His path no harm will come to us…it is when we stray from His ways that we are in real danger. O Lord, keep me close to You and keep me walking on Your path. That is where I long to be.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

In The Hands Of A Sovereign Potter...


On Sunday, my dad spoke about the providence of God. He gave an example about how we can often feel as though we are on an inter tube rushing down the raging river of life. We feel out of control. But from God's perspective, we are smoothly floating down calm waters under his watchful care. I know for myself I can feel that way sometimes. I have to realize that God is in complete control. He is infinite and will always do what is right and good. We are finite and therefore need never question His ways. Why should the created question the Creator?

I know the Lord must be glorified when we present ourselves to the sovereign and perfect will of God, humbly submitting to whatever He lays upon us, seeking grace to do whatever He commands us. It's a sad hard fact, but a lot of what God chooses to doin our lives is initially displeasing to our flesh, and our sin within us often rises up. That is when we need to pray hardest for hearts and eyes of faith and to say like Job, "Though He slays me, yet will I trust in Him" (v. 15).

A heart which is truly at rest and trusting, is one that realizes that God directing all things by His perfect wisdom and making all things "work together for good" for His children. Even for the mature Christian many of God's ways are a mystery. God has reminded me countless times that if we knew everything He was doing we would have no need to exercise faith. Trying to control things ourselves only demonstrates our foolishness. Though to human eyes, all may seem to be out of order, we are really unable to see His perfect, governing ways. Faith, sees that God can make no mistakes.

I know for myself, I can sometimes ask the question as to why God just wouldn't Make me stop sinning? I've heard some people ask if God is really all powerful and good, why wouldn't He just save everyone? We may never know the answers to those questions and honestly it doesn't matter...that's God's business. As A.W Pink says, OUR business, "is to be clay in the hands of the Potter; to unmurmingly submit to His holy and sovereign pleasure, to lie passive, and be molded by Him. Our business is to take our place in the dust before the Almighty, and say--Lord, in Your mercy subdue my rebellious will, quiet my restless soul, purify my unbelieving heart. Our business is to delight ourselves in the Lord (Psalm 37:4), and to give thanks "always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20)."

That is my prayer today...that I will seek and desire to be clay in the hands of a most loving, sovereign, skilled and trustworthy Potter. This will mean daily dying to myself, but with God's grace it is possible.

"I should expect everyday to encounter circumstantial evidence of God's commitment to my dying. And I must seize upon every God given opportunity to be conformed more fully to Christ's death no matter the pain involved."

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Picture of Grace...


God has given me fresh thankfulness for grace lately. God's freely given and unmerited grace. It is true that my prideful and self-sufficient heart can sometimes resist the idea of free grace and think that there has to be more to it than that. In my pride I feel like I need to earn it. Deep down however, I know that even with my best efforts that would never be possible. It's comforting to know that God, who is rich in mercy, doesn't require anything in return. But in light of all He's done for me, shouldn't I strive to give Him my very best? I read a quote once that in essence said, if we consider how much Christ sacrificed for us and how little we sacrifice for him, we would blush. I pray I will do a better job to honor God with my life and embrace the grace He has given me. From the moment my eyes open in the morning til the time I close them at night, it is all of God's grace that has carried me through. Grace makes the picture of life more beautiful.

"With great reluctance we give up our flattering opinions of ourselves. We find it difficult to discard of the notion of our own inherent merit. It is hard to drag man away from the rock of self-justification. He is glued so fast to the great stone of self-conceit, which lies close by the gates of hell, that a stronger than Hercules is needed to tear him from it; and even such a deliverer must rip him from it,leaving the skin behind. From the gate of the City of Destruction up to the pearl gate of the New Jerusalem, it is all grace. The road to glory is paved with stones of grace. The chariot in which we ride to heaven is all of grace. The strength that draws it, and the axle that bears it up, is all of grace and grace alone. In the whole covenant of grace, from the first letter of the charter down to its last word, there is nothing at all of merit or man's goodness, but it is grace, grace, grace! Oh, how this casts mire into the face of human self-sufficiency! O for a gospel that reveals the sinner as saved by grace from first to last,that God may have all the praise!"-Spurgeon

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Learning To Wait...

"Lead me in your truth, and teach me; for you are the God of my
salvation; on you do I wait all the day." Psalm 25:5

The word "wait" has been on my mind a lot lately. What exactly does it mean to "wait on the Lord"? Well, to the contrary of what people may think, waiting is a verb. It's active not passive. While we wait on the Lord, we must constantly be reminding ourselves of His truth and promises. Prayer is also a key tool while waiting. It's in prayer that our hearts commune with God. It's in prayer that we can lay our innermost thoughts, fears, joys and desires at His throne of grace. Prayer can help strengthen our faith and God can soothe our souls and bring every misguided thought into submission to His will. It's in the depths of prayer that the Lord teaches our hearts to dance with him.

Waiting, is to never give up on God. While the world teaches us to look for quick solutions, the Lord often has other things in mind. God never makes us wait in vain. There is always some lesson to be learned, blessing to be had or calamity to be avoided. We can wait on the Lord, knowing that He is sovereign and works in His perfect time and way. Sometimes we can grow weary of waiting for God to help us overcome a certain sin, to give us our hearts desires, be delivered from a trial or gain understanding about a certain decision needing to be made...whatever we are waiting on the Lord for, we can trust that He knows best and is working for our good and ultimately His glory. I read in an article once that sometimes it's not that the Lord isn't ready to give, but sometimes we are the ones who aren't ready to receive. In my experience, though hard and unwanted at the time, waiting has always made things sweeter in the end. After a long battle with sin, God's grace and forgiveness is much more beautiful to me. After waiting for something I desire, I cherish it more that I probably would have if I had been given it right away. After finally discerning God's will on a matter and making a decision, the sound of His voice and sense of His peace are a rich blessing. Waiting on the Lord isn't a punishment, it is a sweet blessing the Lord uses in each and every one of our lives. I pray I will count it a joy to wait on the Lord.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

How Wide, How Long, How High, And How Deep Is His Love...

O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord
there is steadfast love, and with him is
plentiful redemption. - Psalm 130:7


"When He Discovers Repulsive Things In Us"

(J. R. Miller, "The Every Day of Life" 1892)
"Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end!" John 13:1
Jesus takes us as we are, and does not get weary of us--whatever faults and sins He discovers in us. There is infinite comfort in this for us. We are conscious of our faults, blemishes and infirmities; and the unworthiness and the unloveliness which is in our souls. Many of us have pages in our biography, which we would not dare to spread out before the eyes of anyone!There are in our inner heart--feelings, desires, longings, cravings, jealousies, motives--which we would not feel secure in laying bare to our dearest, truest, and most patient and gentle friend. Yet Christ knows them all. Nothing is hidden from His eyes. To Him there is perfect revealing of the innermost springs of our being. Yet we need not be afraid that His friendship for us will change, or grow less, or withdraw itself--when He discovers repulsive things in us. Yet He loves us--loves unto the uttermost! Christ loves us not according to our worthiness--but according to the richness of His own gracious heart!"May you have the power to understand, as all God's people should--how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it!" Ephesians 3:18-19

Monday, September 8, 2008

Coming Soon...

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the great and foremost commandment.
(Matthew 22:37-38)


God has impressed upon me to do a series of posts on a book He led me to read yesterday. It's called "Idols Of The Heart: Learning To Long For God Alone". I've only gotten through the Excerpt and first chapter and am already amazed at how it has convicted and encouraged me. I am excited about what the Lord will do in me through this book!

Unequal Chances???

I have felt the Lord, convicting me lately of whether or not He is really enough. When work is hard and tedious, is He enough? When desires aren't met when I think they should be, is He enough? When trials are upon me, is He enough? It's easy to compare ones life with the lives of others. To think that they have it easier and think everything was just handed to them on a silver platter. I can even sometimes think that godliness comes more easily to them. I don't think this way most of the time, but there are moments when this can be a temptation. For me, I am realizing that hard circumstances and even my sin keep me low to the ground and close to God. God is sovereign over all of life and knows what will make us more like Christ. Things we may view us ugly and difficult, He sees as a means of grace to make us more beautiful. The entire psalm of 73 also speaks about this and is very encouraging and convicting. This article by J.R. Miller reminded me of that today.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. - Psalm 73:23-26

What to Do with Our Unequal Chance-by J. R. Miller, 1912
Some people feel that they do not have a fair chance in life. They look at others who seem to have more advantages and fewer hindrances, and they conclude that the allotments of providence are not just and equal. Some young people let their minds run in this unwholesome channel. They have to work hard and live in the plainest way, without luxury, not enjoying opportunities for pleasure and for education that they long for. They see other young people in easy circumstances, lacking nothing, with no hardships to endure, called to no self-denial, living in ease, with every opportunity for study, travel, and recreation. It is not easy for them to avoid a feeling of envy in such circumstances. Nor is it easy to accept the limitations of condition complacently, without any feeling of being unfairly treated. Yet the problem to be worked out by those who appear not to have an equal chance, is to accept their place with its disadvantages and its inequalities, and to live just as sweetly and cheerfully as if they were in the most luxurious circumstances. The danger always is that we may be hurt by life in some way. Yet nothing can really hurt us, so long as we keep love and peace in our hearts. No hardship of any kind can do us actual harm, if we meet it victoriously. But when we allow ourselves to chafe and fret because things are hard, or to complain because things seem unfair, or to grow bitter because we do not have a fair chance, that moment life is hurting us. The worst mistake anyone can make in such a case, is to brood over what seems to be unfairness in his lot in life, indulging the feeling that he has not been justly dealt with. The result is that his heart grows bitter and hard, that he begins to pity himself and to look upon others, more highly favored, with envy, which soon grows into hatred. Nothing but harm can come out of such a feeling. It does not reduce the inequalities in any degree. It does not make it easier to get on. On the other hand, it spoils the life, turning its sweetness to bitterness. It also lessens the heart's enthusiasm and diminishes its power to live nobly. The only worthy way to meet such a condition, is with courage and purpose to master disadvantages. One who does this, disarms life of all its power to do him harm, and makes even the hardships and disadvantages, elements in his success. A hindrance conquered makes us stronger. When one accepts his place in life and makes it a school, he is going to get out of it lessons which will fit him for worthy and noble living. Handicaps become uplifts, and occasions for fine attainment and achievement, when they are faced with courage and determination. There is a good philosophy here for him who is wise enough to carry it out in his life. It is well known that the men who have risen to the loftiest heights of excellence and have done the most for their race, have not come as a rule from the ranks of those who have been reared in luxury—but from among those who began in lowly ways, with few advantages and many hindrances. The very struggles they had to make to overcome the obstacles, lifted their feet higher on the stair. The efforts it cost them to get an education, made men of them. Thus they easily found compensation for the hard things in their lot in their early days. The least worthy thing that any young fellow can do with an unequal chance—is to allow himself to be disheartened by it and give up. Nothing really noble or valuable is ever got easily. One does not find gold lying about on the streets. We have to dig our way through rocks to get to earth's treasure-houses. We always have to work hard, to achieve anything worth achieving. An unequal chance, as it seems to human eyes, ofttimes proves to be the very pearl of chances. It wakes up in men's souls sleeping possibilities of energy, which never would have been awakened in the experiences of ease. We are not put in this world merely to have a good time, to enjoy ourselves, to eat and drink and dress well, and move about in paths of pleasantness. We are here to grow into the nobleness and strength of the best manhood we can attain. He who misses this, though he lives in luxury all his days, has missed all that is really worth while in life! Young people should always remember, too, that in their school of life they must do their own toiling; nobody can do it for them. There are some who like to dream of fortunate surprises by which they shall find themselves lifted to positions of ease and prosperity, without struggle or effort of their own. It is not often that such surprises come, nor is it always really "fortunate" when they do come. A few years ago, a young man, struggling with peculiarly hard conditions, became suddenly the possessor of a large sum of money. Instead, however, of being good thing for him, the money proved the end of whatever hope there was of the young man's making anything of his life. He dropped the work which was to train him into manliness and usefulness, and entered upon a course of ease and extravagance, which in a brief time left him penniless and with all the high ideals of his early days of struggle shattered.
The best thing one can do with hard conditions is to take up his own burdens courageously and bear them. Then in carrying them he will grow into noble manhood.

Friday, September 5, 2008

"Our weakness is an empty cup, which God fills with His own strength"


One of my new favorite authors is J.R. Miller. He is titled as one of the most encouraging authors. How kind of God to always encourage our hearts no matter what state we are in. I think this piece by Miller directs our gaze to remember God's kindness and care for His children in any and every circumstance.

The God of the broken-hearted

(J. R. Miller, "The Beatitude for the Unsuccessful" 1892)

"The Lord is near the broken-hearted." Psalm 34:18

The God of the Bible, is the God of the broken-hearted. The world cares little for the broken hearts. Indeed, people oftentimes break hearts by their cruelty, their falseness, their injustice, their coldness--and then move on as heedlessly as if they had trodden only on a worm! But God cares. Broken-heartedness attracts Him. The plaint of grief on earth--draws Him down from heaven.Physicians in their rounds, do not stop at the homes of the well--but of the sick. So it is with God in His movements through this world. It is not to the whole and the well--but to the wounded and stricken, that He comes with sweetest tenderness! Jesus said of His mission: "He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted." Isaiah 61:1We look upon trouble as misfortune. We say that the life is being destroyed, which is passing through adversity. But the truth which we find in the Bible, does not so represent suffering. God is a repairer and restorer of the hurt and ruined life. He takes the bruised reed--and by His gentle skill makes it whole again, until it grows into fairest beauty. The love, pity, and grace of God, minister sweet blessing of comfort and healing--to restore the broken and wounded hearts of His people.Much of the most beautiful life in this world, comes out of sorrow. As "fair flowers bloom upon rough stalks," so many of the fairest flowers of human life, grow upon the rough stalks of suffering. We see that those who in heaven wear the whitest robes, and sing the loudest songs of victory--are those who have come out of great tribulation. Heaven's highest places are filling, not from earth's homes of glad festivity and tearless joy--but from its chambers of pain; its valleys of struggle where the battle is hard; and its scenes of sorrow, where pale cheeks are wet with tears, and where hearts are broken. The God of the Bible--is the God of the bowed down--whom He lifts up into His strength. God is the God of those who fail. Not that He loves those who stumble and fall, better than those who walk erect without stumbling; but He helps them more. The weak believers get more of His grace--than those who are strong believers. There is a special divine promise, which says, "My divine power is made perfect in weakness." When we are conscious of our own insufficiency, then we are ready to receive of the divine sufficiency. Thus our very weakness is an element of strength. Our weakness is an empty cup--which God fills with His own strength.You may think that your weakness unfits you for noble, strong, beautiful living--or for sweet, gentle, helpful serving. You wish you could get clear of it. It seems to burden you--an ugly spiritual deformity. But really it is something which--if you give it to Christ--He can transform into a blessing, a source of His power. The friend by your side, whom you envy because he seems so much stronger than you are--does not get so much of Christ's strength as you do. You are weaker than him--but your weakness draws to you divine power, and makes you strong.

"He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Come weary saints, though tired & weak...Hide away in the love of Jesus

We do well when we let God shape our lives. God "writes straight on crooked lines." He has a plan for every life, and his plan goes on without interruption, through all the ambitions, the mistakes, the failures, of our aims and strivings. The problem of faith is to accept God's will--when it breaks into our will, and believe that always it is right, and that there can be no mistake and no failure when it is his way we take. It is here too often, that our faith fails....

This lesson is not easily learned. For many it is very hard to accept interruptions in happy activities, without chafing and fretting. It is hard for a man to break down in the midst of some great task, and be as trustful and songful in his disappointment, as if he had been allowed to go on in his busy way. The lesson is, that our faith shall not fail when interruptions of any kind break in—but shall keep our hearts brave and sweet and strong in all human weakness and disappointment. We must take care that our religion does not fail in these testings. We say that Christ will suffice us in every experience; we must show that he does. If he does not--the trouble is with us. - J.R. Miller

Come, weary saints, though tired and weak
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Your strength will return by His quiet streams
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Come, wandering souls, and find your home
Hide away in the love of Jesus
He offers the rest that you yearn to know
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Hear Him calling your name
See the depths of His love
In the wounds of His grace
Hide away

Come, guilty ones weighed down with sin
Hide away in the love of Jesus
The freedom you long for is found in Him
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Come, hopeless hearts, do not despair
Hide away in the love of Jesus
For ten thousand joys await you there
Hide away in the love of Jesus