The Risk of Having Faith In God

Faith is the willingness to risk anything on God.  Jack Hyles

Have you figured out yet that faith means taking risks?  Having faith in God means there will always be risk associated with that faith. When you can’t see, touch or feel Him, faith is based on the unknown.  You don’t know the outcome when you step out in faith.  It’s literally letting go and letting Him take care of the outcome.   

I can remember when I was a child we were in Austin and we went to Bastrop to the public pool and they had low and high diving boards.  I could swim, but I was no Olympic caliber diver.   I was more of a belly flopper.  So for several weeks we went every day to the pool.  I would look up at that high diving board and try to get my courage up to go jump off of it.  Of course when you are young and you have cousins around you, it’s kind of mandatory that you take up their challenge of “I’ll jump if you will”. 

So I finally got up the courage to walk over to it and climb the ladder.  When I cleared the top of the board I wanted to turn around and go back down.  I was trying to talk myself out of jumping.  Wow, that water sure is deep.  Man that’s a long way down.  Everyone is watching me.  After I had my little pep talk with myself I turned around to go back down and there was my cousin looking at me waiting for me to jump.  So I nonchalantly walked over to her, turned back around to face the end of the board and took off running, not looking down and then jumped.  It was like free falling. In fact, it was free falling. Once I was in midair it was like the feeling you get when the roller coaster gets to the top of the incline and your stomach drops out on the decent.  After that first jump I couldn’t wait to get back to the ladder and do it again. 

Faith in God is that very same feeling. When Jesus told Peter to launch out into the deep, Peter had to have faith in Jesus.  He didn’t tell Peter to wade in the shallow waters on the shore.  He told him to launch into the deep.  You aren’t going to find big fish in the shallow water along the shore; they will be in the deep water where you can’t see the bottom. 

God also wants us to anticipate His promises.  When one of my sisters prays she will often thank God for answering her prayer before it is answered.  Faith means letting go of our fear of failure and grabbing hold of God’s promises.  We will never see God’s potential in our life if we are too afraid to believe that He can make it happen. 

The Bible is filled with God’s promises.  If you are struggling with something in your life go to the Bible and read His promises.  God has a plan for you and me.  The first step is to get into God’s presence.  Step out in faith and cooperate with His plan even if it doesn’t make sense and then anticipate that He will do what He says.  God wants to bless you.  He wants to bless you so much that you have nowhere to put the extra blessing except to give it away.  That is what it means to risk having faith in God.  Live life abundantly and anticipate His blessing.

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be a risk taker when it comes to You and Your purpose in my life.  Please give me the strength to let go and jump off into the deep end.  Give me the faith to know that You are there to catch me.    

       

Scripture: By Faith They Overcame

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again.

Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.  Hebrews 11:30-40

 

Potential

Has life become so filled with efforts to cover every financial contingency, to realize one's full earthly potential, and finally to retire comfortably, that without realizing it we are finding our hope in this world rather than in God?  Dave Hunt

Each of us has the potential to be great.  By that I don’t mean great in the sense of worldly greatness.  Worldly greatness is fleeting.  It doesn’t last long.  If you look at every politician you will often see what the world perceives as greatness.  We often associate our potential by how the world perceives it.  If I can be the best athlete or become President or be the first in my graduation class I will be great.  What I really mean is we can be great for God.

In reality what happens is we mess up.  We fail at something and our perception of the greatness we thought we attained is gone and other people look at us and see us as a failure.  If you think about it, what other people think shouldn’t really matter.   What matters is what God thinks. 

If we understand that the power lies in God instead of us we are on the right path.  We have a hard time understanding the meaning of “My strength is made perfect in weakness”.   We question how we can be strong in weakness.  Since these are opposites it doesn’t make sense in a world where worldly strength is all important.  

When we stop trying to obtain worldly strength and start depending on God’s strength there is nothing we can’t do.  Our potential is fully fulfilled when we depend on God for our strength instead of ourselves.  Every one of us has the potential to be great for God.  All He asks is that we place our trust in Him every day.  His strength is unending and will sustain us even in our weakest moments.  Let go and let Him.   

   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, sometimes it is hard for me to understand that when I am at my weakest that is when your strength is manifested in me.  The irony is that when I am at my weakest I will often turn to You.  Unfortunately, sometimes pride takes over and I think I can do it better on my own.  When that happens my potential for greatness for God is lost.  Help me to keep my focus on You so that I am able to reach my full potential through You and for Your glory.    

Scripture: And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Come As You Want to Be

I must confess that I never realize Christ's preciousness so much as when I feel myself still to be, apart from Him, an undeserving, hell-deserving sinner. Charles Spurgeon

For many years I thought I wasn’t good enough for the grace of God and I would say there are probably many like me, who thought they needed to get their life straight, or on the right course, or felt they needed to be better to come to God.  Have you ever asked yourself these questions, “Why would God want me because I am in the midst of my sin?” or  “How could God the Father love me enough to look past the sin and still want me to come to Him?” or how about “When will I be good enough?”

One of the most powerful passages related to this comes from Romans 5:6-11.  In these passages we find the essence of how much God loves us and how much Jesus did for us. 

1.     Christ died for the ungodly  - This part of the verse doesn’t say he died for only the godly.  If it said that we would all be eliminated from the presence of God.

2.     While we were still sinners – This verse doesn’t say we can only be saved if we are sin-free. It specifically says “while we were still sinners”.

3.     Saved from wrath through Him – When Jesus died on the cross we were justified by His blood.  This means we were made new or clean through the death of Jesus and saved from the wrath of God when we accept Him as our Savior. God still hates the sin that is in our life, but Jesus stepped in to take our place for the wrath of God.

4.     Received the reconciliation – The only way we can receive the reconciliation back to God is through accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior.  His death on the cross paid for our debt of sin. 

God doesn’t say come as you want to be.  God says come as you are with all your sin and failures, come all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest.  When we tell ourselves that we are not good enough and we need to get things straight in our life before we come to Him, we have missed the saving grace of Jesus dying on the cross.  I believe heavy laden means we are carrying around our backpack of sin and it is weighing us down.  When we finally understand that God wants us to give it to Him, He will give us rest.  We will find rest in Him.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of thinking that I need to have my life in order before I can come to You for rest.  The problem is my life will always be out of order due to my sinful nature.  I will sin over and over again.  This scripture passage didn’t say “in that we were sin-free” it says “while we were still sinners.  Thank you for reminding me of how much you love me and how priceless Jesus’ saving grace is in my life.

Scripture: For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.   For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Romans 5:6-11

Sheep

If sheep do not have the constant care of a shepherd, they will go the wrong way, unaware of the dangers at hand. They have been known to nibble themselves right off the side of a mountain. And so, because sheep are sheep, they need shepherds to care for them.  The welfare of sheep depends solely upon the care they get from their shepherd. Therefore, the better the shepherd, the healthier the sheep.  Kay Arthur

I love to read the parables of Jesus.  There are times when I don’t understand verses in the Bible and it takes a great deal of studying and asking God to reveal the truth to me before the light finally goes off. 

I was reading the parable about the Shepherd and his sheep.  Jesus tells the Pharisees that anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in another way is a thief and a robber.  If you take this sentence at face value, you would probably think; what difference does it make how I get in the pen as long as I do eventually.  But, if you read further Jesus explains why it is so important to go in through the gate. 

This whole parable is about salvation.  Jesus is the Gatekeeper who gave his life on a cross so that we may live.  The only way we will get to heaven is through Him, the Gatekeeper.  His sacrifice is why God made Him the Keeper at the gate. 

The next part of the parable is interesting too.  Jesus talks about how the sheep know His voice and they listen for it.  If we want to know Jesus voice as our Shepherd we must know what it sounds like and when He is speaking to us.  If I don’t spend time reading His Word I will not be able to distinguish Jesus’ voice from Satan’s.  Sheep are followers and they need a Leader. 

Jesus then talks about how all who came before Him are thieves and robbers.  If we listen to Satan he will rob us of our salvation.  Jesus goes on to talk about the hired hand who doesn’t care about the sheep. When times of trouble come, (like the wolf), the hired hand will abandon them.

I love the verse where he says, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Jesus is talking about those who are not saved.  There still are many that have never heard the Savior’s voice.  Each of us has the responsibility as Christians to help bring lost sheep home.  To help others to know and hear the sound of the Shepherd’s voice. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have heard the Shepherd’s voice and gladly follow Him.  I want to show other’s Your glory and help them to know when the Shepherd speaks. Jesus laid down His life to save His sheep.  He gave up everything willingly even though the cost was His life for ours.  I want to take up the cross and follow Jesus.  Thank you for providing me a way home.   

   

Scripture: The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” John 10:1-18

Rejoice In the Lord Always

Begin to rejoice in the Lord, and your bones will flourish like an herb, and your cheeks will glow with the bloom of health and freshness. Worry, fear, distrust, care-all are poisonous! Joy is balm and healing, and if you will but rejoice, God will give power.  A.B. Simpson

Do you rejoice in the Lord always?  That is a tough question isn’t it.  It is kind of hard to rejoice when you are in the midst of losing your job, going through illness or the loss of a loved one. Then there are the aggravations of life like your car breaks down, you are late for a meeting, the kids are acting up in school and the water pipe to the toilet breaks and water floods your house. 

Philippians 4:4 is an extremely easy verse to remember because it is so short.  I need short because my memory is just not what it used to be. The other thing about Philippians 4:4 is that the end of the verse repeats the beginning of the verse. Why would it be so important to repeat what was said at the beginning? Rejoice in the Lord, AGAIN I say rejoice!

I think it has to do with what God wants us to focus our attention on.  If everything God does or allows to happen in our life is for our good, then instead of worrying or bemoaning the fact that something bad is happening we should be rejoicing. 

Joseph is one of the best examples of someone who could have bemoaned his situation.  I mean he was sold by his brothers, enslaved in Egypt and went to prison.  If anyone had reason to deny God it was Joseph.  All of the trials Joseph went through brought him back full circle so that he could save his people.  Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:19-20

We should rejoice in the Lord always, whether our circumstances are good or bad.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I rejoice in You.  You are my strength when I am weak and You guide me when I stumble.  Help me to rejoice in everything no matter what the circumstance.  Joy will grow in me when I look at everything that happens in my life as a blessing and rejoice in You.

Scripture: Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-7

Deep Water

There are three kinds of faith in Christ: 1. Struggling faith, like a man in deep water desperately swimming. 2. Clinging faith, like a man hanging to the side of a boat. 3. Resting faith, like a man safely within the boat (and able to reach out with a hand to help someone else get in).  D.L. Moody

Have you ever been in deep water?  Several years ago my husband and I went to Cancun for vacation.  We decided to take an excursion to go snorkeling.  I will say this as a preface to my story.  Learn to speak the local language before you take a trip to another country. 

So we get to the dock to catch the ferry that would take us out to the island where we would be snorkeling that day.  Our first clue that this might be an iffy trip was the boat they put us on to travel to another island.  This boat (if you could call it that) was like my grandfather’s old fishing boat.  You know the kind that is aluminum with a flat bottom.  This one had one amenity.  It had a canopy that was about 4 X 5 that only covered half of the 15 people that were on this boat.  As soon as we sat down the skipper of this boat took off.  We went bouncing across the water at a good clip.  Water was splashing over the sides and front of the boat and we were bouncing.  I was starting to get nervous.  I must not have read the fine print on the brochure that told me about the amenities.

Anyway, we pull up to this island and the skipper starts speaking in Spanish.  The only Spanish I knew was hola, si, por favor, and cerveza plus I could count to ten.  None of these words helped us in this situation.  So they pull up to the island and I am mainly watching the other people bail out of the boat into water that is about 3 feet deep and so clear that you could see the bottom.  So I’m thinking this isn’t so bad.  I can stand in the water so how much trouble can I get into.  We look over and the boat is leaving.  I’m thinking maybe they are just going to pick up another group and will come back for us later.  Then I see all of the people in our boat walking over to deeper water. 

I will add here that my husband decided he didn’t want a life jacket and I could see how you would make that mistake because we were standing in 3 feet of water.  As soon as we stepped over to the deeper water the current grabbed you and took off.  So I am thinking “how are we going to get back to the place where the boat dropped us off swimming against the current.”

After my panic attack subsided, I looked up and all the people that were on the boat with us are floating around the corner of this island.  I’m thinking they knew something I didn’t, (i.e. Spanish), so I started letting the current take me too.  So we are in 16-20 feet of water and snorkeling is the last thing on my mind.  My husband is swimming close to me because he doesn’t have on a life jacket.  I look over to our left and the only thing keeping us from going to Cuba is a metal cable that is stretched around the perimeter of this island.  We finally get to the tip of the island and as we float around the corner there must have been over a hundred people in life jackets bobbing in the water and twenty different boats floating around. 

Did I tell you I didn’t look at the name on our boat before we set sail so neither of us has a clue which boat is ours?  So I am looking at this sea of people and thinking we are never going to get back to civilization.  In my panicked state, I didn’t realize that anyone wearing a life jacket had the name of the boat on the back of the life jacket.  Can you blame me?  Then my next panicked thought was that we would get left on this island far away from other land masses and we would become Tom Hanks in Castaway without Wilson.  

   

So we are floating around with a hundred other people and the skippers of the boats are moving through the crowd plucking people out of the water and speaking Spanish.  Our boat floated up to us and flipped a ladder over the side for us to climb aboard. At this point, I didn’t care if this was our boat or not, I was getting on board. As far as snorkeling trips go, I didn’t see a fish.  The only use my snorkeling mask got was as a headband to hold my hair out of my face. 

As I thought of this long ago trip, it made me think of the deep water we get in on a daily basis.  If our faith is not strong enough we will get taken out with the undercurrent.  How do we get a resting faith that will help us when we get into deep water?  I must depend on Him, rely on Him and rest in Him.  Unlike my panicked state during this trip, if I am resting on my faith in God, I am able to rest in Him.  He will get me back to shore.  He is the only One who can get me safely home.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I thought of this long ago trip where I got into deep water and I panicked.  If I spend time with You and meditate on Your Word, I have no reason to panic.  You will guide me, teach me and lead me in the direction I should go.  I want a resting faith that will see me through the deep waters of life.  I praise You for giving me the opportunity to rest in You.    

   

Scripture: Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. Psalm 37:3-8

My Grace Is Sufficient

Growth in grace is growth downward. It is the forming of a lower estimate of ourselves. It is a deepening realization of our nothingness. It is a heartfelt recognition that we are not worthy of the least of God's mercies.  A.W. Pink

Have you ever looked back over your life and realized how many times God’s grace was sufficient?  Most of us if we are honest don’t want to go through hardship and trial because it makes us feel weak and vulnerable.  The reality of the situation is that God wants us to feel exactly those things.  Why?  Because when our heart and body are broken and bruised, that is when God’s power is strongest. 

When I read about Paul in 2 Corinthians I often wonder what his weakness was that caused him to ask God three times to remove it.  It doesn’t explain what the thorn in his side was.  Often I think it means that he had an illness or injury because that is when I was at my weakest.

Then I started thinking.  What if Paul’s weakness wasn’t a physical injury but maybe his weakness was because he couldn’t get away from those who reproached and persecuted him.  God knew what was best for Paul.  How easy it would have been for Paul to brag about the accomplishments that God was doing through him.  God wanted Paul to remain grounded, meek and humble in spirit.  You can’t do that if you are going around telling everyone how great you are and how much you have accomplished if you think it was all your own strength that made it happen.

When we start thinking that everything we do for God is through our own power, we have lost God’s strength and power.  If our estimate of our abilities and strengths takes precedence over God’s strength we have lost the true power of what God can do in our weakness.  

As we learned with the story of David and Goliath, David’s strength wasn’t in a slingshot and a stone.  His strength was in the power of God through a slingshot and a stone.  Whose power will you choose?   

  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for my weakness.  It helps me to focus on You.  I would rather be meek and humble in spirit and have Your strength than to be mighty and strong by the world’s standards.  Your grace is sufficient for me.

Scripture: Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:1-10

How Do You Worship Him?

Worship is a believer's response to God's revelation of Himself. It is expressing wonder, awe, and gratitude for the worthiness, the greatness, and the goodness of our Lord. It is the appropriate response to God's person, His provision, His power, His promises, and His plan.  Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I read something recently that made me stop and think about how I worship God.  The statement that touched me was this, “You’re the only you in all of creation.”  If I love God my way of worshiping Him will be different from any other person’s way of worshiping Him.  If God can count the hairs on my head and every other person’s in the world, then He can certainly hear my voice from every other and distinguish that it is different from any other voice on earth.

I grew up in a church that didn’t demonstrate worship to God by raising your hands to Him or lifting your arms and praising Him.  The first time I saw that it kind of alarmed me.  I would look at the other person and think, “What’s up with the arms in the air?”  “Is this person closer to God than I am?”  “I mean, their arms are higher than I am so maybe they are.” 

What I learned was that the closer I became to God the more my worship of Him evolved.  I love to sing and I love to worship God through songs.  What I learned is that more often than not when I am worshiping Him, the song gets in my soul and before I know it I am crying.  I will be singing and crying.  I wonder what other people think when they see that. 

Each of us is unique and we each worship our Heavenly Father differently.  Some of us show Him our worship by raising our hands in the air, others worship Him by praising Him vocally and then there are those of us who ball our eyes out. 

It doesn’t matter how any of us worship Him or show our love for Him.  He knows.  It is as simple as that.  Your voice is unique and the only one like it.  There is no other person on earth who has your makeup.  He will hear your voice and be able to distinguish it from every other person.  Whatever way you decide to worship Him, do so with all of your heart and soul.  

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, if my heart is turned to You, it doesn’t matter how I worship You.  We are each a unique creation and as such we all worship differently.  If we love You, our hearts will be filled and it won’t matter how the outpouring of that love is manifested in us.  You will know, so help me to rejoice in You.

Scripture: Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth! Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious. Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power Your enemies shall submit themselves to You.  All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name.” Psalm 66:1-4

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, and the great King above all gods.  In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath,‘They shall not enter My rest.’”  Psalm 95:1-11

The Nature of True Joy

If you have no joy, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere.  Billy Sunday
When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and as soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart.  Charles Spurgeon

Have you ever met someone who knew the true nature of joy?  If you have then you have been blessed, because those who know true joy are not easy to find. When you find someone who has joy in the Lord you will know it, as they will be hard to miss.

What is it about a person who has joy in the Lord that makes them different?  The following are what I think makes this type of person different:

Love unconditionally.  When you meet a person filled with God’s joy, they don’t base their interaction with you on how well they know you.  They simply love others and for them it is not just loving some others, or a few others or a couple of others.  They love all others.

Not hindered by their own heartache. This person doesn’t understand what it means to not have joy.  No matter what the circumstances they find joy in them. Have you ever met that person you know has been through great trials in their life, but yet they still seem to always be joyful?

They are giving.  This person will do anything for you. They will give you their last dime and anything else they have or own.  They don’t place great value on things; they place more value on people.  

This person is gentle. They see and know what your sin is but they don’t ridicule or judge you for it.  They don’t decide that they are better than you or put you down because you failed.

In Acts 20:23-24 it tells us to finish our race with joy. Except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

We are instructed to rejoice in the Lord and our soul will be joyful in Him.  We are to walk in the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit.  Our joy should come from God.  If you are searching for joy, you can find it in Him.  Other things of this life will not matter when we understand the true nature of joy.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to walk through life filled with joy.  I want heavenly joy, not what the world thinks joy is.  I can find my joy in You if I pursue You with all my heart.  The trials and tribulations of this world will eventually fade away and what will remain is my life with You. Help me to be joyful in You.  

     

Scripture: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  For as the earth brings forth its bud, as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.  Isaiah 61:10-11

Mistakes & Experience

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them.  John C. Maxwell

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.  George Washington

Have you ever made a mistake?  All of us make mistakes.  It is part of who we are as fallen people living in a fallen world.  Jesus is the only man who lived on earth who was perfect.  Have you thought about the mistakes you’ve made in your life or are they long forgotten. 

I am a firm believer in learning from my mistakes and I also learn from other people’s mistakes.  When I was young I was an observer.  I watched my siblings get in trouble and I learned what not to do.  I also learned from my own mistakes because when I did something and was punished, I learned from that experience not to do it again. 

Too many times I think we forget to look back on our mistakes as the learning tool they are and we miss the blessing God intended.  If you made mistakes in your life pull those mistakes off the shelf and examine them again.  Was there some benefit that you gained from the mistake?  Did it draw you closer to God?  Did it make you change something in your life that needed to be changed?  If you didn’t learn something from it, then you probably need to examine it again.

When you look back on the mistake, is there a pattern that continues in your life today.  We often will repeat the same mistake over and over again, just with a different person or circumstance. 

One of the best examples of this was the Israelites trip through the desert.  What should have been a short journey turned into 40 years of wandering in the desert.  Why?  Because God tested them and they failed over and over again.  The very mistakes they should have learned from they kept repeating.  They complained and even said their lives enslaved in Egypt were better than wandering in the desert. 

   

If we forget or don’t take the time to look for patterns in our mistakes and experiences and learn from them, we will be just like the Israelites.  We will wander the desert of this world repeating the same mistakes they did.  Our lives are going to be filled with mistakes and experiences.  Get the most out of them.  

          

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have made many mistakes in my life and I will continue to do so.  I pray that you will help me to analyze each one to see what wisdom I can reveal in my mistakes and experiences.  I can either learn from them or continue repeating them.  We don’t automatically get wisdom with age. 

Scripture: Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? 2 Corinthians 13:5

I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’  But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice.  Job 32:7

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places

What I am anxious to see in Christian believers is a beautiful paradox. I want to see in them the joy of finding God while at the same time they are blessedly pursuing Him. I want to see in them the great joy of having God yet always wanting Him.  A.W. Tozer

Do you ever observe other people?  People fascinate me.  By that I mean sometimes I will go to an event and if we are not busy I will observe people.  You can learn a great deal about someone from their actions and facial expressions.  If you think about it, the majority of the people you see are searching for something and many times they don’t know what that something is.

I believe that when God created us he placed in us a need for Him.  There is in every person a need for our Heavenly Father.  The problem is we often get sidetracked by our search in the wrong places for Him.  Some of us don’t even realize He is what we need.  So what do we do?  We look for the missing part of us in other people or we pursue the things of the world to try to fill the void in us. 

One of the things that needs to happen is we have to want God wholeheartedly and be willing to give everything else up in our pursuit of Him. 

Remember the parable of the rich young ruler.  He asked Jesus how he could have eternal life. Jesus responded by telling him that to enter into eternal life he must keep the commandments.  The ruler proceeds to ask Jesus which ones.  Jesus tells him, “You shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness and you must honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.  The young ruler tells Jesus that he has done all these things from his youth.  He then asks Jesus, “What do I still lack?”  Jesus responded by telling him to sell what he had, give to the poor and follow Me.  When the young ruler heard that, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions.

I am guilty of not wanting God enough.  I want things of the world when they are temporary.  The things of the world only give temporary satisfaction.  If I am looking for God; the temporary things will not fill the void in me.  Only God can fill that void.  When we understand that He is what we need; we will give up what we have in this life to pursue Him with everything in us.  If we talk to God but don’t hear from Him, maybe we don’t want Him enough. 

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of not wanting You enough.  I often get distracted by the things in this world and my relationship with You suffers. Please help me to keep my focus on You, to believe in Your promises and follow You.  Help me to keep my eyes focused on You so that I don’t look for You in all the wrong places.  

Scripture:  But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.  Deuteronomy 4:29-31

Come Back New

Renewing the mind is a little like refinishing furniture. It is a two-stage process. It involves taking off the old and replacing it with the new. The old is the lies you have learned to tell or were taught by those around you; it is the attitudes and ideas that have become a part of your thinking but do not reflect reality. The new is the truth. To renew your mind is to involve yourself in the process of allowing God to bring to the surface the lies you have mistakenly accepted and replace them with truth. To the degree that you do this, your behavior will be transformed.  Charles Stanley

I was listening to a commercial on the radio this morning.  It had a serious undertone to it just by the music in the background and the guy’s voice.  It started out talking about a little boy in school who was asked to tell about an experience he had, but as the commercial went on it said the boy couldn’t speak and didn’t say a word.  The speaker went on to say that it wasn’t because he was embarrassed to speak in front of the group, or in front of a special girl who was in the room.  It went on to say the reason he couldn’t speak was because there were no words to describe the experience.  How could you describe ruins that were older than your grandfather, or watch movies under a blanket of stars too many to count or swim with turtles close enough to touch? The last line was what got me.   If you went on this trip you would come back “new”. 

I have been on many Caribbean trips in my lifetime.  I have been to the Bahamas, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta and Playa del Carmen and I’ve even been on a cruise to Jamaica, Cozumel and the Grand Caymans.  Every trip was exciting and the scenery was beautiful.  I’ve seen beautiful white beaches that looked like sugar and soft breezes blowing palm trees while waves washed onto the shore.  I’ve seen stars too numerous to count.  The thing is I didn’t come back “new”.  I came back sometimes with sunburn, other times worn out and then there was the whole thing about I didn’t want to come back home at all.  Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoyed every trip and the beauty of my surroundings. It is pretty hard to describe a sky so blue, the sun so bright and the sand so white that it hurts your eyes to look at it. But the one thing I didn’t do was come back “new”. 

I think the guy in the commercial and I have a totally different concept of what it means to come back “new”.  When my pastor buried my sin when I was baptized, I came back “new”.  I was no longer that old self.  My sins were washed away and I could see things I had never seen before and felt things I had no hope of feeling before my baptism.  Coming back new changes you from the inside out.  It is like the waves on that white sandy beach crashed over you and as they receded, they took the sin and shame with them.  When you come back “new” it is indescribable, overwhelming and amazing.  Choose to come back “new”.  

     

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I have seen some beautiful things and places in my life, but none can compare to my first sight of You.  The washing away of my sin renewed me and changed me.  I will never be the same and Jesus made it possible for me to return to You.  I am “new” from the inside out and I am forever grateful for the beauty of You.

Scripture: Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”

And He said to me, “It is done!  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. ” Revelation 21:1-7

God’s Power

God has defeated Satan through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through this overwhelming victory, God has also empowered you to overcome any temptation to sin and has provided sufficient resources for you to respond biblically to any problem of life. By relying on God's power and being obedient to His Word, you can be an overcomer in any situation. John C. Broger

Our world runs on the power of electricity.  We use it for everything.  You only miss it when the electricity goes out.  That is when you realize how much we depend on a plug in the wall.  Have you ever stopped to think about everything you use electricity for each morning?

In a typical morning for me, I turn off the alarm that wakes me up each morning then I turn on the lights in the bathroom and kitchen.  I turn on the TV to watch the news while I am getting dressed.  I turn on the light in my closet to decide what to wear.  I walk into the kitchen and turn on the coffee maker.  I unplug my phone from the charger.  I open the refrigerator to get creamer.  I use a blow dryer to dry my hair.  I sometimes turn on the iron to press my clothes.  All of this power is used in the first hour of my day.

 

This started me thinking about God’s Power.  How much more could we accomplish if we were plugged into His Power.  The problem is sometimes we don’t have enough faith to fully get plugged in.  Too many times we determine that we are “self” sufficient and are in control.  When we start thinking like that we are basically dimming the lights on God’s Power.  When we begin to think that we are in control we have lost the most powerful tool in our toolbox. 

How do we plug into His Power?  One of the hardest things for me to learn was to let go and let Him.  When my life is spinning out of control I have a tendency to try to grab the reins and take back control.  When I was young we rode horses and one of the scariest things for me was to have the reins of the horse fall out of my hands.  In a controlled situation a horse is steered by the reins.  If you want the horse to go left or right you use the reins to pull in the direction you want to go.  When you drop the reins the horse gains full control.  You are no longer steering.  If the horse gets spooked then you are in trouble.  When a horse is spooked he will run uncontrollably anywhere and he totally forgets about the rider.  I’ve had them run up against trees and under low branches all while I am sitting on his back. 

When things in my life are out of my control I need to turn to Jesus and pray for His strength.  God also provided the Holy Spirit to help me in these times.  The key to doing amazing things for God’s glory is to let go and let Him lead.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I keep falling into Satan’s trap thinking that I am in control. Sometimes I hinder Your work in and through me, because I don’t trust You enough to be my strength.  Help me to let go and let You lead me where You want me to go.  You are all the Power I need.  I praise Your Holy Name.  

Scripture: Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

Potential

Has life become so filled with efforts to cover every financial contingency, to realize one's full earthly potential, and finally to retire comfortably, that without realizing it we are finding our hope in this world rather than in God?  Dave Hunt

Each of us has the potential to be great.  By that I don’t mean great in the sense of worldly greatness.  Worldly greatness is fleeting.  It doesn’t last long.  If you look at every politician you will often see what the world perceives as greatness.  We often associate our potential by how the world perceives it.  If I can be the best athlete or become President or be the first in my graduation class I will be great.  What I really mean is we can be great for God.

In reality what happens is we mess up.  We fail at something and our perception of the greatness we thought we attained is gone and other people look at us and see us as a failure.  If you think about it, what other people think shouldn’t really matter.   What matters is what God thinks. 

If we understand that the power lies in God instead of us we are on the right path.  We have a hard time understanding the meaning of “My strength is made perfect in weakness”.   We question how we can be strong in weakness.  Since these are opposites it doesn’t make sense in a world where worldly strength is all important.   

When we stop trying to obtain worldly strength and start depending on God’s strength there is nothing we can’t do.  Our potential is fully fulfilled when we depend on God for our strength instead of ourselves.  Every one of us has the potential to be great for God.  All He asks is that we place our trust in Him every day.  His strength is unending and will sustain us even in our weakest moments.  Let go and let Him.  

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, sometimes it is hard for me to understand that when I am at my weakest that is when your strength is manifested in me.  The irony is that when I am at my weakest I will often turn to You.  Unfortunately, sometimes pride takes over and I think I can do it better on my own.  When that happens my potential for greatness for God is lost.  Help me to keep my focus on You so that I am able to reach my full potential through You and for Your glory.  

Scripture: And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10