Marvill-i-ous!

"How are you?"  Having some fun, I often say, "Marvill-ious!"  My silliness, a childish made-up word, catches people off guard. Even when I am inwardly struggling with some situation in life, it is my goal to lift others. So, I work at being encouraging and positive. Emotions are infectious. How are you 'infecting' those around you?  Yet, I know that there are real limits to mere optimism. Sometimes we cannot just think our troubles away, make some ugly situation into a good one, just by being positive.  But, as a Christian, I have great reason for hope. So, do you! No matter what is going on today, there is a truth that wraps around it all – sickness, disappointment, failure, and weakness.

The Word explains that the struggle is real but so is our expectation of triumph! "Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it." (Romans 8:20-24, NLT)

Harold Myra writes; "Optimism is not living in a fantasy world where nothing tragic ever happens. Vital optimism is a confidence that tragedy is not the last word, that the best is yet to be. Optimism is being able to acknowledge brutal realities and to point to an even greater reality - that our experiences are not in vain, our responses are not futile, and our efforts are worthwhile. For Christians this kind of optimism is linked to an abiding trust that history is going somewhere and that God... is powerfully directing it."

There is no denying that we live in a world where terrible things happen. I am not ashamed to admit that I readily groan and even weep when I see stories about refugees in war zones, about starving people in the poorest nations, about bloviating politicians who are focused more on ‘winning’ than on solving real problems. I feel real heartbreak when I fail God and others. But disappointment, failure, - yes, even death - are not the last words for the me. God's amazing promise is that He is the Restorer of the broken, the Healer of the bruised, the Lifter of my head!

Further developing the thought in that 8^th chapter of Romans, Paul writes that "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?" (Romans 8:31-35, NIV)  God is greater. His purposes prevail. He holds my life in His hand!

So we deal with life’s disappointment with something better than optimism. We face life with the ‘full assurance of faith’ not one that rests on our ability, but on His promise. Purpose to live positively today, drawing on a deep reservoir of faith that is inspired by the promise of God and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. Grasp hold of the hope to which you were called in Christ Jesus. Lay claim to His promise that He is greater than anything in your life today.

Choose to be 'marvillious!'

The word from the Word is this: "None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:37-39, The Message)

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God Of All My Days

I came to You with my heart in pieces

And found the God with healing in His hands

I turned to You put ev'rything behind me

And found the God who makes all things new

I look to You drowning in my questions

And found the God who holds all wisdom

And I trusted You and stepped out on the ocean

You caught my hand among the waves

'Cause You're the God of all my days

Each step I take You make a way

And I will give You all my praise

My seasons change You stay the same

You're the God of all my days

I ran from You and wandered in the shadows

And found a God who relentlessly pursues

I hid from You haunted by my failure

And found the God whose grace still covers me

I fell on You when I was at my weakest

And found the God the lifter of my head

And I've worshipped You and felt You right beside me

You're the reason that I sing

'Cause You're the God of all my days

In my worry God You are my stillness

In my searching God You are my answers

In my blindness God You are my vision

In my bondage God You are my freedom

In my weakness God You are my power

You're the reason that I sing

'Cause You're the God of all my days

In my blindness God You are my vision

In my bondage God You are my freedom all my days

Jason Ingram | Mark Hall

© My Refuge Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Be Essential Songs (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

CCLI License # 810055

Yes, YOU can!

In October, 2015, I knew that my beloved wife was being called to her eternal home. Her cancer had advanced. When I would carry her frail little body from the living room sofa to her bed and we murmured words of love, there was another part of me that was near panic! “How will I live without her?  Can I survive the loss and remain together and functioning? Oh, God, no, please.” I screamed inside, the words hidden behind a calm demeanor that she needed for her peace. In the months that followed her death, I often felt a similar choking sense of panic when I came home to a house once full of her love, then an empty place where memories roamed like ghosts.  But, I refused to let that fear possess me. With the love of friends, the strength of the Spirit, and some determination, I held onto hope that life, while different, continued and that joy would find me again. And, it has.  Yes, even as I write these words, my eyes sting with tears, but they do not come from fear or panic. They are a reminder of a love that I will celebrate ‘til the day I die.

There is a passage that I quoted to myself often in those first hard and terrible days of loss. They are the words of Paul written to Timothy, his spiritual son.  The old apostle was on death row, forsaken by most of his friends. After decades of service, his life had come down to the appearance of abject failure. The old man is sad, but not broken.  “Tim,” he writes, “I am not sitting here full of regret, mourning what could have been. I am counting on God, taking His grace, awaiting His rewards.”   His words -  "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. … That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return." (2 Timothy 1:7-10, 12, NLT)

God did not make us cowardly, fearful people who run from adversity, moan about our difficulties, and surrender at the first sign of opposition. He breathed the ability into you and me that enables us to stand up to foes, to focus outside of ourselves to love, and to take charge of our emotions.  In my panic and sorrow, I reminded myself hundreds of times, “I am more than my loss. God will help me to find tomorrow.”  It is His truth and I drew life from it.  Will you?

Our hope is not in our own determination or even in our ability to control events. Our steadiness comes from a profound assurance that God holds all of life – the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly – near His heart and is completely able to hold our salvation intact, come what may. "I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end." (2 Timothy 1:12, The Message)  The security we need for life does not come from our situation, it comes from God, Who is greater than life or death. 

Panicked? Trust Him! 
Afraid? Look to His promise! 
Alone? He is a Friend who is closer than a brother! 
Lost sight of the future? Hold onto His hand today!

If you have time, read Paul’s entire letter to Timothy.  There you will find words of hope, in spite of certain death. There you will find faith for this day.

Be brave taking the power, the love, and the self-discipline that God breathes into you today.  Then join Paul in this affirmation of hope for eternity.

"I can’t impress this on you too strongly. God is looking over your shoulder. Christ himself is the Judge, with the final say on everyone, living and dead. He is about to break into the open with his rule, so proclaim the Message with intensity; keep on your watch. Challenge, warn, and urge your people. Don’t ever quit. Just keep it simple. " (2 Timothy 4:1-2, The Message) "This is the only race worth running. I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is the shouting—God’s applause! Depend on it, he’s an honest judge. He’ll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming. " (2 Timothy 4:7-8, The Message)

__________

Mighty To Save

Ev’ryone needs compassion

Love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me

Ev’ryone needs forgiveness

The kindness of a Saviour

The hope of nations

Savior He can move the mountains

My God is mighty to save

He is mighty to save

Forever Author of salvation

He rose and conquered the grave

Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me

All my fears and failures

Fill my life again

I give my life to follow

Ev’rything I believe in

Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see

We're singing

For the glory of the risen King

Jesus

Shine your light and let the whole world see

We're singing

For the glory of the risen King

Ben Fielding | Reuben Morgan

© 2006 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Like a sentry waiting for morning’s light

The view through my bay window this morning is grey, a dense fog covering the area. Trees poke through the haze,  black limbs making scraggly, jagged lines against the sky.  Brown grass signals the deathly grip of winter.  I sigh heavily, that scene a metaphor for my state of mind.   The path for this day is fogged by multiple challenges and few clear choices.. A wintery chill has settled in my soul.  

Those kinds of days arrive for all us, don’t they?  I know the ‘why’ of mine.  My body is still fighting back from last week’s sickness. There are some ministry responsibilities that my heart is resisting.  And, I can never forget that there is a real Adversary who exploits physical fatigue and emotional stress, too.

In a few weeks, that scene of death in back yard will give way to a riot of colors, buds and blooms announcing the arrival of Spring. Though death seems apparent, life is powerfully surging, awaiting the call of the sun to break out.  Similarly, despite today’s feelings of deadness of soul, the Spirit’s life is abundant. The Son calls that Life into being – bringing joy and hope.

I am so grateful that I can turn in quiet confidence to the One who loves me – summer and winter, day and night, through it all. When my own words fail, I can borrow the Word. This was my prayer, the ancient words wrapping themselves around me like a friend’s embrace.  "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. …He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. … Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him." (Psalm 25:4-6, 9-10, 12, NIV)

Show me, Lord. Guide me, Lord.
You are my hope, Your ways loving and faithful.
I honor and love You, instruct me!

Don’t you love that? I do!

Perhaps you identify with my state of heart today. Join me in waiting, expectant, for the Spirit’s stirring.  If you are walking in the sunshine, rejoice!  Thank Him for the blessings and do not forget His mercies.

Here is a word from the Word.  It is one of the songs of ascent, those ancient chants of the Jews that they sang as they went ‘up’ to Jerusalem.  Perhaps you would read it aloud, a song of the soul?  I will and He will answer with His tender mercies bringing a new dawn.

"A song of ascents.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

O Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins."
(Psalm 130, NIV)

____________

You'll Come (link to song)

I have decided I have resolved

To wait upon You Lord

My Rock and Redeemer shield and reward

I'll wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise

You'll come to us

Certain as the dawn appears

You'll come let Your glory fall

As You respond to us

Spirit rain

Flood into our thirsty hearts again

You'll come You'll come

We are not shaken we are not moved

We wait upon You Lord

Mighty deliverer triumph and truth

We wait upon You Lord

As surely as the sun will rise

You'll come to us

Certain as Your word endures

Chains be broken lives be healed

Eyes be opened Christ is revealed

Brooke Ligertwood

© 2007 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055