Midnight words of hope for Monday morning!

 

Weighed down with disappointment, I fretted my way into the night. “Why, Lord, does it have to be like this?” I whined over a situation that is much less than I hoped for.  10:30 became 11, then 11:30, and midnight came without sleep as I wrestled with finding a ‘solution’ that would work in my life.  You, too? Yes, we all have those nights when sleep is chased away by life’s troubles and needs. In the dark of the night, concern turned into frustration, frustration into complaint, and complaint began to become faithlessness.  I reached for the Scripture and rest soon came as the promises of God replaced the anxieties of the day. When what we planned goes out the window, when our best efforts are met with frustration, when people disappoint we can become cynical, a little bundle of ‘poor me.’  Or we can give our cares to the One who says, “I care for you.”

The Word that brought rest to my soul were the words of Isaiah, as he shared the revelation of the Lord with the people of Jerusalem. Their lives were broken, to all appearances their hopes gone.  But God reminds them of His plan to restore the city, her future secure in Him. "The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow. You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God. No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, (meaning Delightful) and your land Beulah; (meaning God’s Bride)  for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:2-5, NIV)

So how does an ancient word to a people of another era comfort us in our times of disappointment?

We learn that God is always at work to restore, renew, and work for His purposes. Our part is to trust and obey! No one in Jerusalem could even begin to imagine how God would bring back a conquered city, a destroyed Temple, and any resemblance of blessings, but He could and He did!  This is our assurance, too. Does this mean that everything will be rosy, all our stories wrapped up with neat conclusions by nightfall? Not at all.  God works outside of our timelines, before we are born and after we pass from this earth.  

Jeremiah, another man who spoke to those people on God’s behalf, urged them to faith saying, "This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree." (Jeremiah 29:10-14, The Message)

He is the same God, in a different time. Will we hope in Him? Will we continue faithful when things are disappointing, when critics abound, when the future is murky?

Our calling in Him is not to slog on, grimly, dutifully merely surviving!  It is to hope in God and, in that hope, to find Joy for the journey.

Take this word from the Word for this day. "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute! Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life." (Philippians 4:4-7, The Message)

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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

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

Saviour 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

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

Are you saved?

I know some wonderfully “good” people whose lives make me exclaim, “Thank you, Lord” each time they come to mind.  They are not famous, have not written best-sellers, and are not making a big splash in the world. Solid people, they show up for life every day. They care for others with more than words, doing what they can to make the world of which they are a part a bit better.  Paul says that as they move through life spreading goodness they are the “fragrance of Jesus.”  You know you can count on that type of person, don’t you?  You never have to worry if they are ready to love you today and will forget your name tomorrow. They are good folk!

In his letter to Titus, Paul urged him to teach the people under his spiritual care to connect their faith to life making sure that their behavior reflected what they claimed to believe. Key to the third chapter of that letter is a phrase urging people to ‘be good.’  Three times in 15 verses it shows up. "Remind the people … to be ready to do whatever is good … those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. … Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives." (Titus 3:14, NIV)  The goodness of this letter is not moral purity, though that is important.  The Word calls them (and us) to leave a positive impression, our hands and hearts engaged with others for real benefit.

A life of goodness is prime evidence of the reality of the truth of Jesus Christ. A person who can say all the right things about doctrine but who is without a good heart is, in James’ word, a cloud without water!  They blow over leaving nothing of value!  Paul makes it very clear that this kind of ‘goodness’ is not natural.  His view of human nature is dark. "It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back." (Titus 3:3, The Message)  Ouch! So what makes the difference?

We got saved! "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7, NIV)   Much more than resolved to be marginally better, entirely different than attempting anger management, even beyond getting religion – we are saved; yes pulled out of the hopeless place of enslavement to Self so that we can serve the Living God.  We are reborn, as it were, passing through the waters of baptism and emerging to a whole new life, energized by the Spirit of God living in us.

I am somewhat nostalgic for the old days of the ‘altar’ in church.  Time was that people felt the stirring of the Spirit and often with tears made their way to the front of the church, falling on their knees, broken by the conviction of God and arising hopeful because they knew that Someone had lifted their burden, broke the power of their old ways, and given them a fresh start. Yes, they got ‘saved.’ Salvation is still God’s offer.  We do not find it through extensive counseling, through training in church doctrine or history, or by becoming better adjusted to life. We must encounter the Living God, humble ourselves before the Savior, and accept – by faith- the offer of being made right by the grace of God.

Paul warns Titus about people who mistakenly think that “religion” is the same as salvation. "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, … But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless." (Titus 3:9, NIV)

Are you saved? It will show – in a new life that is good!

Take this word from the Word to heart.  Invite Christ to take you captive, to save you from sin, to spread the goodness of God through you into this world. "But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume." (2 Corinthians 2:14-16, NLT)

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Build Your Kingdom Here

Come set Your rule and reign

In our hearts again

Increase in us we pray

Unveil why we're made

Come set our hearts ablaze with hope

Like wildfire in our very souls

Holy Spirit come invade us now

We are Your church

We need Your pow'r in us

We seek Your kingdom first

We hunger and we thirst

Refuse to waste our lives

For You're our joy and prize

To see the captives' hearts released

The hurt the sick the poor at peace

We lay down our lives for heaven's cause

We are Your church

We pray revive this earth

Build Your kingdom here

Let the darkness fear

Show Your mighty hand

Heal our streets and land

Set Your church on fire

Win this nation back

Change the atmosphere

Build Your kingdom here we pray

Unleash Your kingdom's pow'r

Reaching the near and far

No force of hell can stop

Your beauty changing hearts

You made us for much more than this

Awake the kingdom seed in us

Fill us with the strength and love of Christ

We are Your church

We are the hope on earth

Rend Collective

© 2011 Thankyou Music (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

A Birthday celebrated in Heaven

6 years ago, I wrote this on Bev’s birthday. Pardon my sentimentality as I re-publish these words that help me to remember the kind of woman she was. That day it seemed that we had forever. But, the Lord chose a much shorter journey for her on this planet.  Were we perfect together? Ah, time has a way of airbrushing the flaws out of the picture and I know that.  What I can affirm is that we loved Him together, and His love kept us through the up’s and down’s that are a part of this human experience.  I am remembering her today,  her 63^rd birthday.  May the life she lived inspire us to love better, serve faithfully, and be ready to enter the Joy of the Lord as she did on 12/29/2015.

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Today is my wife’s birthday. Were you to guess which one after seeing her, you would probably miss it by at least a decade. God and DNA have been much kinder to Bev than me but I don’t mind, not even a little bit. She is a gift from the Lord to me, more treasured with each passing year, my complement in every sense of the word! I sang “Happy Birthday” softly to her in the darkness this morning and reminded her that we are a team, inseparable, stronger together by far than we could ever be apart. In that moment, all was right with my world: God in His Heaven, my love at my side.

To watch her in her work- be it teaching her first graders, leading a chapel worship session, or conducting a woman’s Bible class - is to see grace in action. Her diligence is phenomenal in every season, no matter what’s going on in her life. She loves me quietly with steady affection. She’s not one to hang all over me in a crowd, but she will rise to my defense like a lioness. She prays for her family and is my able advocate before the Lord. She offers counsel to me that comes from a place of reflection and submission to the Spirit. And, she’s beautiful.

The familiar passage in Proverbs describes her accurately. It says, "She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise." (Proverbs 31:25-32, NLT)

She’s tender, still given to tears when overwhelmed by life’s sorrows; and she’s tough, resilient in the face of critics and the stormy times that blow through every life. She’s sometimes thought to be fragile, but she’s actually quite strong like steel covered with velvet. She’s not perfect, but she knows her weaknesses and let’s God work in those very places. I am blessed and thankful that the Lord gave me this gift and today I say, “Happy Birthday. The world was blessed when you were born!”

This was our song …

I'll always remember the song they were playing,

The first time we danced and I knew.

As we swayed to the music and held to each other,

I fell in love with you.

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner, every night?

When we're together it feels so right,

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

I'll always remember that magic moment,

When I held you close to me.

As we moved together, I knew, forever,

You're all I'll ever need.

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

Would you be my partner, every night?

When we're together it feels so right,

Could I have this dance for the rest of my life?

- Annie Murray