Renewed In His Love

Driving home at dusk yesterday, I noted the splash of colors surrounding me and pulled off the road to drink it in.  As I released the tensions of the day, I breathed a prayer of praise, thanking God for the beauty and for a moment’s respite from it all.  Lyrics of an old Louis Armstrong song played through my mind- "I see skies of blue and clouds of white, the bright blessed days, the dark sacred nights; and I think to myself: What a wonderful world!"  Thanks, Lord, I needed that. It’s been a turbulent week – a death of a friend, the final days of my pastoral service, the tragic news from Afghanistan and Haiti. 

Those kinds of weeks show up in our lives, from time to time, when life gets heavy.  Death, hate, war, and destruction are signals to those of us in Christ we are pilgrims in this world, citizens of an eternal Kingdom, not home just yet. Still, there is beauty to be found, joy to be discovered, beauty and brightness in the middle of the mess.  

Joining David’s song, we can reset, renew, and refresh our souls.   
“O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and
crowned him with glory and honor." (Psalm 8:1-5, NIV)

Have you found yourself tired out, or filled with dread, or just overwhelmed by the sadness brought to life by sin and suffering?

Did you awaken this morning and wish that you could just pull down the shades and hide out from life for the day? 

I understand that impulse, and I also know that joy comes with the morning, if we look up and take in His goodness and mercy. Find reasons to rejoice today. Open your heart to God’s Presence. Pray earnestly and expectantly for those situations that are beyond your control.
"The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you. Sing praises to the LORD, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what he has done." (Psalm 9:8-11, NIV) 

Make those words your prayer, personalizing the hope found in them.  The Lord – my refuge! The Lord – who never forsakes me!  Become God aware in a new way today. 

Here is a word from the Word.  It is one of the songs of ascent, songs for the road as pilgrims went ‘up’ to Jerusalem for holy festivals. 

Read it aloud, and go ‘up’ to the Presence of God. 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)

I pray you are renewed in His love today.

_______________

Mercies (New Every Morning

In brokenness and wandering
Through all my fear and unbelief
Your faithfulness appears to me again
Through mountain top and valley low
In ev'ry season this I know
Your goodness like the dawn will break again

All Your mercies rising
In this heart again
And my soul begins to sing

They are new ev'ry morning
New ev'ry morning
Great is Your faithfulness
Your mercies are new ev'ry morning
New ev'ry morning
Great is Your faithfulness

Ev'ry good and perfect gift
In Your endless grace You give
Flowing from the Father's heart to mine
Beams of Heaven as I go
Through this wilderness below
The fullness of Your love for all of time

All Your mercies rising in this heart again
All Your mercies rising in this heart again
All Your mercies rising
Forever shining in this grateful heart again

Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness

Colby Taylor | Daniel Kim | Edith McNeil | Matt Redman | May Angeles

© 2019 Tent Peg Music (div. of New Nation Music [Admin. by Music Services, Inc.])

Colby Taylor Designee (Admin. by Integrity Music)

CCLI License # 810055

Standing on the Promises of God

 

Many Sunday evening services included a song that proclaimed our faith – loudly and joyfully. We declared that we were ‘standing on the promises of God.’  I am choosing to do that this morning!  My prayers were weighty this morning – a friend with lung cancer for whom treatment is not working, a family grieving the death of their Mom and wife, the plight of the nation of Afghanistan under a cruel regime that especially hates Christians, the new pastor’s arrival at the church from which I am retiring next week, friends traveling to Tanzania - on top of the list already in place!

Praying, I brought to mind the promise of our Lord Jesus – “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20).  

Promises are dependent on the one who makes them. Who has not relied on someone full of words of promise only to discover that their words aren’t worth anything. Our God is trustworthy.  We are, indeed, ‘standing on the promises of God.’   

Some Christians tell me about their disappointment with God claiming that He has failed them.  We need to be cautious about ‘proof-text’ faith, basing some major idea about the will of God or a promise of the Spirit on a single verse taken from the Bible without context or study.  When we make our own agenda primary and then insist that God blesses our plan: “You promised!” - our faith can take a hard blow when we find a reality other than the one we desired. I have known some who have walked away from the Lord bitterly disillusioned, insisting that God failed. Could it be, I wonder, that they have confused what they wanted with what God promised?  

Admittedly, the ways of God can be mysterious to those of us with limited vision.  When He allows death to take someone we love too soon in our estimation, we wrestle with His trustworthiness, don’t we? When a son that we have loved and prayed for resists Him and plunges into a life of self-destruction,  we wonder why He does not intervene.  When hate appears to have won the day, as it appears in Afghanistan, we are tempted to ask why and how this could happen. 

I love Jeremiah’s prayer found in his Lamentations. His beloved nation was devastated, the Temple torn apart, the future dark. But, he professed faith in the promises of God.  I love the authenticity of his words.  "So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:18, NIV)  Ever felt that way?  Then, he looks to the heart of the Father.  "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail." (Lamentations 3:21-22, NIV)

True faith is humble, submitted to the loving wisdom of God. This I believe - When we live in full faith we will not demand anything from God even as we rely on Him for everything!  We will not argue for an easier call, beg for a different way, or doubt when things go wrong.  Instead, we will deepen our faith – asking only to be led by His hand. And, He is faithful.  If we need a course correction, He will lead us.  If we are to walk through the valley, He will be there with us.  

Job, that godly man whose struggles were unbelievably difficult, worked through his disappointment, faced the grim reality of life, endured criticism and false judgment, and chose to wait on God.  "The LORD said to Job: “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Then Job answered the LORD: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.” (Job 40:1-5, NIV)  Now, that is REAL faith. 

Stand on the promises of God!  Lean on Who He is even more than demanding Him to act in some way you think best. Let the promise of His unfailing love, of His gracious gift of life, bring such a radical assurance that faith will be rock solid, unwavering, leading to a joyful obedience to Him.

Here’s a word of promise from our Savior. Note the interplay of promise and obedience.  When we trust Him enough to obey without question, our will aligns with His in such a way that we are empowered in wonderful ways.  Meditate on this and live it. "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love." (John 15:7-10, NIV)

___________

Standing On The Promises

Standing on the promises of Christ my King
Through eternal ages let His praises ring
Glory in the highest I will shout and sing
Standing on the promises of God

Standing standing
Standing on the promises of God my Savior
Standing standing
I'm standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises that cannot fail
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail
By the living Word of God I shall prevail
Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect present cleansing in the blood for me
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free
Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord
Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord
Overcoming daily with the Spirit's Sword
Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises I cannot fall
List'ning ev’ry moment to the Spirit's call
Resting in my Savior as my All in All
Standing on the promises of God

Russell Kelso Carter © Words: Public Domain

Make it count!

“Saving Private Ryan” a movie released in 1998, opens as we watch an old man walk slowly across a field of white crosses in Normandy. He is searching for the grave marker of a Captain Miller who, along with a squad of soldiers, had been sent by the President to take Pvt. Ryan out of the battle theatre and return him to his family after his brothers were all killed in the war.  In a desperate firefight, the squad comes under heavy fire and Miller is mortally wounded. As he is dying, he tells young Ryan: "James. Earn this . . . earn it."   The old man murmurs "I've tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope it was enough."  It is a powerful moment!   

 I have thought of that scene several times in recent days as I draw my time in pastoral ministry to a close. I remember those who invested in me, trusted me, loved me.  And, I wonder if I have given my best in return?

Whether we come to the end of life with regret or fulfillment depends on how we live today. Today matters! The old saying may be a cliché but it is true: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.'

 One of my favorite quotes in the Scripture teaches me to "Make the most of every opportunity for doing good in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants you to do." (Ephesians 5:16-17, NLT)  Living in the will of God, to please Him, is about more than some BIG moment or grand gesture.

Our commitment to Christ is largely lived in the ordinary. God’s work is done as we listen compassionately to a grieving friend, when we take time to care for someone who is invisible to others, when we love our children when they are acting terribly, when we suspend judgment of a sinning friend and seek to understand, when we pray for a broken world with groans and tears, when we sit in a worship service and focus on Him, when we teach a Sunday School class with joyful enthusiasm, when we do the dishes without complaint, etc.  As Tish Harrison Warren wrote – there is a Liturgy in the Ordinary! 

Most mornings as I make my way into consciousness, I speak a simple prayer. “Lord, this is Your day and I am at Your service. Help me to recognize the opportunities You bring my way.”  I am not a fatalist nor do I believe that we just somehow fall into the perfect plan of God. We must live humbly, willing to give up our comfort and to resist the impulse to sloth in order to walk with the Spirit in the lead.  In the same breath, I hasten to say that there is no need to stress over the will of God.  He guides us as we become like a little child, trusting, serving, loving Him in the situations in which we find ourselves. 

Christian friend, let’s pray that our lives will make a difference for Christ and His kingdom; not tomorrow, but rather beginning today. With the counsel of the Spirit and the Scripture, choose the path of the righteous, and then walk it - consistently, day after day. I can make this guarantee - you'll never live to regret it!

Here's a word from the Word. I pray that when my race is nearly over, when the finish line is in sight, that I will be able to say what Paul said just days before he died. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that great day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his glorious return." (2 Timothy 4:7-8, NLT)

So, what is on our agenda today, Lord?

______________

Faithful Men

Come and join the reapers
All the kingdom seekers
Laying down your life to
Find it in the end

Come and share the harvest
Help to light the darkness
For the Lord is calling faithful men

Twila Paris © 1985 Jubilee Communications Inc. (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

Mountain Spring Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

 

Invite Him In!

The images out of Afghanistan yesterday pressed heavily on me. Politics and blame for the debacle aside, I just could not shake the compassion and concern for those who will now suffer under the regime of the Taliban. Christians, who are a tiny minority of around 1% in the nation, are prepared for hardship and martyrdom. Last week a missions team there to serve were killed. Reports have come of Christian men killed and their wives taken.  One Christian texted a friend out of the country – “We are preparing to meet Jesus face to face in a few days.” 

How would I feel if I knew that life was about to become very hard or worse, that death was likely because of my faith in Jesus? What would I do? Those thoughts circled in my mind as I prayed for my brothers and sisters on the other side of the world.

From my perspective in the American church, it appears that much of what we do is done ‘because that is what we have always done’ or ‘we have to keep up appearances.’  That kind of ‘faith’ if we can call it that, one that is without passion and conviction, does not stand under fire. Worse, it is an offense to the Living God.  Ancient Israel had fallen into ‘religion’ that looked good, but lacked connection to the Lord. 

Preacher Amos watched, prayed, and heard the Spirit’s words. They were not comforting! “I hate all your show and pretense—the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is." (Amos 5:21-23, NLT)  God says that He despises heartless religion.

Christian, if we just go through the motions of worship, if we sing without thought, pray only rote prayers, and ignore the Spirit’s voice – I believe that God says, “Just stop it. It’s not even funny. It offends Me.”  

We do not have to become crazily emotional fanatics to please Him.  He desires that we bring our faith and devotion to the ordinary, that our worship is as evident on Monday morning as it seems to be in the sanctuary on Sunday. He told Israel,  " I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry." (Amos 5:24, NLT)  God saw the injustice in Israel, the exploitation of the poor by the rich, the oppression of the powerless by the privileged.  He called on them to use their times of prayer to reflect on the way they were living; and to change. 

Amos was not a crank, a unique voice. Isaiah observed the same lack of integrated faith in the lives of the people.  He heard the Spirit say “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  (29:13)  Jesus warned about “babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.”  (Matthew 6:7)  His prescription for the sickness of heartless religion is still offered. "Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31, NLT)

The plight of the Afghan Christians made me think about the way I love God. I hope it will be a catalyst for some soul-searching in all of our lives.  Let’s ask God to keep us from singing songs we don’t really mean. Let’s go beyond sending a check to church, and go to serve in His Name. Let’s engage our minds in the study of the Word, accepting it as God’s Word to us, not just some devotional reading to start the day. May our prayers flow from the depths of our heart, including real confession, faith-filled petition, and humble contemplation of His majesty.

May God keep us from a few days of just trying harder!  If we have a moment of crisis or self-examination most of think just that- “I’ll just have to double down and work at it.”  That doesn’t work because the focus is on you, and we are prone to failure, easily distracted, ready to justify ourselves. Fall on Him! Give Him complete access to your life, laying it all out before Him. Jesus offers Himself to us.  IF we start to fall into a heartless religion, He says - "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20, NIV)

He does not love us less when we are nakedly honest.
If you’re sick of ‘church’ tell Him.
If you are not at peace, but a simmering pot of resentment towards the world, tell Him.

If you really have little desire for godly things, if you find more in fishing than serving Him, tell Him.

If Heaven seems far away and life’s pleasures are immediate and alluring, tell Him. 

I have written the next words many times - He knows the real you better than you do. And, the One who knows you best, loves you most! 

If we own our reality, if we will live confessionally instead of covering our sin, our fear, our doubts, our failures-  with religious noise we will find Him present to comfort, faithful to forgive, and changing us from the inside out.  Loving Jesus is not a matter of doing religion better; it’s about loving Jesus, focusing on Him.

Meditate on His words, our word from the Word today. "You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." (Revelation 3:17, NLT)  "I am the one who corrects and disciplines everyone I love. Be diligent and turn from your indifference. “Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends." (Revelation 3:19-20, NLT)

He’s waiting, knocking on door.  Will you invite Him in?
______________

My Heart Your Home

Come and make my heart Your home

Come and be ev'rything I am
And all I know
Search me through and through
'Til my heart becomes
A home for You

A home for You Lord
A home for You Lord
Let ev'rything I do
Open up a door
For You to come through
And that my heart would be
A place where You want to be

 You are my portion
Filling up ev'rything
You are the fortune
That's causing my heart to sing
That it's amazing
That You could make Yourself at home
With me with me Lord

 Christy Nockels | Nathan Nockels

© 1997 Rocketown Music, LLC. (Admin. by CURB | Word Music Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055