All Your Promises are “Yes”

Thanksgiving week starts today.  Are you thankful? I know that I have a choice in that. Do you?  This has been a year of personal loss without compare. Grief is my companion most days, never far away. But, I choose gratitude.  Am I thankful that death visited and took my beloved? Not at all. I am thankful that my Father gifts me with life and hope; that in spite of the sorrow, He is a good God that offers me the promise restoration and resurrection!  My healing comes through faith.

Isaiah, the preacher whose heart was broken by the terrible tragedy that had overtaken Jerusalem, saw beyond the ruins and, in the Spirit, caught the vision of God’s promise. "I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere." (Isaiah 61:10-11, NLT)  "Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.” Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride. Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride. Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride." (Isaiah 62:4-5, NLT)

Through Isaiah, God reminds us that we are never too far gone, never without hope. 

Jerusalem looked destroyed. The Jewish people appears to be beyond restoration. But God had promised and He kept His word. 

I hope that this Monday morning finds you with every reason in the world to sing and dance.  But, if it doesn’t, there is still reason for thanksgiving – God’s promise!  Not even death itself can rob us of hope.  Pray to ‘see’ that “God will rejoice over you as a groom rejoices over his bride.”  He has not written you off, turned His back on you.  He holds your destiny in His hands, has written His promises in a covenant that was purchased at the cost of His Son’s life.  So, even if you can’t find reason to be thankful for where you are at in this moment, be thankful for the love that secures you for all eternity.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah" (Psalm 62:5-8, NIV)

"One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard:
that you, O God, are strong, and
that you, O Lord, are loving.
Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done." (Psalm 62:11-12, NIV)

___________

All Your Promises

Oh Lord our Lord

How majestic is Your name

Your words are true

Your mercy does not change

All Your promises are precious

Reviving our faith

Ev'ry one of them

Will be fulfilled one day oh

All Your promises

Are yes and amen Jesus

Your promises are true

All Your promises

Are yes and amen Lord Jesus

We'll keep running after You

We will run

We'll run and not grow weary

We will rise upon the eagle's wings

In the presence of the Lord

Our spirits will soar

Till we one day gaze upon our King oh

Andrew Smith

© 1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)

Vineyard Songs Canada (Admin. by Vineyard Music USA)

CCLI License # 810055

Two kinds of ‘success’

Two books stand next to each other on my nightstand. One touts the importance of big dreams that invite the blessings of God, emphasizing earthly success as a measure for a good life. The other tells stories of brokenness inviting us to find the abundance of life by standing with the bruised, the sad, the ‘less than perfect’ people, sharing the fellowship of Christ’s Cross with them.  They present two different views of the Christian life with the first having a definite natural appeal in its promise of ‘more’ and ‘bigger.’  The second one inspired me, causing deep reflection, drawing me close to Jesus and leaving me deeply disturbed.

There is not a second’s doubt in my mind that the true way of Christ is not found in more of my Self, no matter how noble the aspirations I claim in His Name. He is found among those who ‘hunger and thirst’ for God’s grace because they know they are hopelessly sin-broken apart from His healing touch!

How easy it is to idealize a life given to sharing human sorrow, standing with people who are suffering, being willing to face up to our own broken and sinful places.  But, in reality, authenticity and compassion is a painful, costly, bloody business.  We need look no further than the life of Savior to understand this. His love did not move Him to send an offering or to write a blog about the need for change.  He entered fully into His own Creation, ultimately becoming sin for us, dying in ignominy to save us. His story is far removed from the re-interpreted “Christianity” that attempts to sanctify the American dream of self-fulfillment by making the Spirit’s power a tool to build our kingdoms.

God invites us to take up our cross and there, in death, to find a new abundance- defined by intimacy with Him, by the grace we find in Him alone. It is a narrow Way, by Christ Jesus’ own word, and few find it. The appeal of being accepted as one of the beautiful and whole, of enjoying influence and esteem, is a glittering lure that drags us from the blood-stained ground at the foot of the Cross. Our instinct of self-preservation makes us ask, “Why would I stand with the homeless, the lonely, the rejected, the poor and powerless, the dysfunctional?” Just a step further, we distance ourselves by making the plight of the broken their fault for if we can blame them, we can judge them, and we can leave them to sleep in the bed which they have made for themselves.

But, alas, the witness of Scripture stands against us for the Word leaves no exception where it says, ”all have sinned and fallen short.” Some of us may be a little better at concealing our broken, but we are all desperately in need of the Cross. True life is found there, abundance of grace, peace with God a free gift, not a merit badge for high acheivers.

At the end of time, when all is revealed, when the Great Reversal;  the last first, the first last – is made plain, I want to be standing where I will hear the commendation of the only One whose judgment matters.   In a word from the Word Jesus shows what God will commend. May He clear our vision and lead us to live whole and holy lives near the Cross.

 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me,
I was sick and you looked after me,
I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’" (Matthew 25:31-40, NIV)

___________

Be Thou My Vision

Be Thou my vision

O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me

Save that Thou art

Thou my best thought

By day or by night

Waking or sleeping

Thy presence my light

High King of heaven

When vict'ry is won

May I reach heaven's joys

O bright heaven's Sun

Heart of my own heart

Whatever befall

Still be my vision

O Ruler of all

Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne

© Words: Public Domain

When you pray (and we all do)

Letter writing is becoming something of a lost art in this age of texts, tweets, and emojis. Putting our thoughts together in a way that makes complete sentences that flow into whole paragraphs is not as common as it once was. Does this effect the way in that we pray? Are we substituting ‘texts’ thrown to the heavens for thoughtful encounters with God? 

I do appreciate the instant nature of our mode of communication. I use messaging and texting dozens of times each day to connect with others, to confirm meetings, to just say “Hi!”  But, I also know when I need to sit down and write a real letter or pick up the phone for an actual conversation. Do you pray earnestly, heart and mind engaged with God?

Peter, James, John and the other disciples saw the rich intimate prayer conversations of Jesus and they made this request, “Teach us to pray.”   He responded with a framework for prayer that Christians have universally used since the birth of the Church. “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’" (Matthew 6:9-13, NIV)  So much meaning in so few words!

Jesus taught that we need to begin by thinking of Who we are talking to, just like a good letter writer thinks of her recipient.  “Our Father.”   We come to a Person, who loves us, with purpose for our existence, with complete provision for us. Our prayer begins by setting us in the context of His family, for He is ours, not just mine.  We pray in a way that invites us to know Him relationally.  Then, He reminds us that our prayers, while addressed to our Father are formed around profound reverence. “Hallowed be your name.”  We recognize that He is revered, respected, and majestic and that our high calling is to make Him known to the world in a way that invites their worship. And, that is just the first few words!

As we pray we step fully into His rule, inviting His kingdom to come and His will to be done. What part of me resists His will? Where do I desire my way more than His way? How do I surrender to Him and fall in step with the Spirit?  So many of my prayers are shaped less by desiring His Kingdom than by wanting Him to make my agenda happen, to make my life work the way in which I desire.

Even as we yearn for His rule, we are invited to pray about the ‘dailys’ of our lives;  the ordinary stuff of each day.  He is our Bread! That deep longing for strength, He satisfies. That confounding problem, He is the answer. That challenging child, He can show the way to love. That broken heart, He can heal it.  So, we carry our need to Him and ask, in faith, for what He provides.

Jesus taught us to recognize our sin and the sins of others in this prayer, but not with shame, nor with hate. Instead, He establishes a connection between our grace and His. We choose grace, He gives it. We let go of our offense, our rage, our Self – and He reaches out to hold our heart secure in His unfailing love.  Forgive me as I forgive!  He asks us to pray with honesty about the state of our heart. We must not brush quickly past this line. He reveals that when we build self-protective walls around our hurting Self, we block the very Love that could heal us. It is such a hard part of the prayer, isn’t it?

And, we recognize our humanity as we pray for a road that keeps us from the lure of temptation and the seduction of Evil!  Oh, yes, God does not ‘tempt’ us as we think of the word, but He does allow us to be tested so that our faith is refined, so that our desperate need for Him is made clear to us.  Jesus knew that few things make us more ugly before God than self-righteousness so He taught us to pray confessionally, to acknowledge our frailty and to entreat His powerful advocacy on our behalf.

In the middle of life today, there will be a place for those quick prayers, those texts to Heaven.  Hopefully there will also be time for more thoughtful engagement with the Father, holy and majestic in prayer that profoundly changes us.

"With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven, Reveal who you are.
Set the world right; Do what’s best— as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge! You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty! Yes. Yes. Yes. "
 (Matthew 6:9-13, The Message)