Thank You, God

“…and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,

so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed.
For you were continually straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:24-25

Praise God!  Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice.  Thank you for the freedom from sin and guilt, from shame and rejection.  Thank you for healing my heart and making me whole again.  Thank you that even though I have strayed and may again, that you are watching over me, protecting me and providing for me.  Thank you that I can trust you with my soul – that your words and promises are forever and I know that I will spend eternity in heaven with you.  Knowing all of this gives me the strength to keep going day to day in spite of pain and ugliness.  Thank you, God, for You are good!

 

The High Road

“Teach me to do Your will,

For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Psalm 143:10

Is this the cry of your heart?  Have you put all things under the cross and surrendered all circumstances to God?  Are you desiring to know His way in the midst of the world's loud voice?  Have you forsaken that which you have built, that God might build a better life for you?  In the midst of pain and confusion, disappointment and rejection, are you trusting God? 

The high road is level ground.  When you walk on it in the Spirit, you do not go up and down with every emotion and every situation.  You walk in joy in the presence of the Lord.  You walk in assurance of His deep love.  You know that it is Satan who is the authority on earth and it is he that causes pain and suffering.  You know that God is there, waiting to bring you peace in the midst.  That is level ground.  That is the high road.

 

Obedience = Success

“Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the lord,
He has also rejected you from being king.”
1 Samuel 15:22-23

 Success = Obedience.

 

The only works that will stand the fire of 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 are those done in obedience.  A child in a wheelchair that gives a smile to every one she meets becasue she is being obedient to the Word of God will be as greatly rewarded as Billy Graham who won tens of thousands to the Lord.  Billy Graham was given much and was obedient with what he had.  The little child in the wheelchair was faithful with the little that she was given.  What are your gifts?  Whether they be big or little, "...do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to god the Father." Philippians 3:17. 

 

Do you want your children to be successful?  Teach them obedience first to you and then they will be obedient to God as they learn and grow. 

 

God does not spell out every step of the way, but He has given us guidelines.  First learn to be obedient to the Word of God, then ask God for further instruction.  Usually He gives it one step at a time so that we will rely on His relationship with us rather than just checking off a list of to do's.

Job

 Just a thought on Job today.  First of all, God did not do Job in, Satan did.  Yes, God gave permission but only because He knew that Job’s faith could handle it.  When tough stuff comes into your life, know that we live in Satan’s realm, but that God will only allow what He knows we can handle and He is there with us through it all.   Secondly, Job was real.  He got angry at God.  He got depressed.  But He never sinned.  When God did  approach Job, Job humbled his heart and bowed before God.  Thirdly, I am not Job.  You are not Job.  I pray that your storms will never be as severe as Job’s were.  But whatever this life does throw at you, know that if Job could face all of his tragedies, that God will also give you strength to face yours.  Lastly,” Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

 

Search Me

“Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalm 141:23-24

 Once you have searched your heart before the Lord, confessed any uncleanness, then you are free from shame and condemnation of the past and free to move forward into the present with grace and peace.  Then if  you encounter hard times, you can know for sure that there is no punishment involved, just pruning.  Life happens!  We dwell in Satan’s realm.  When you live in a garbage pit, you will get garbage on you.  But, when your heart is right before God, you are clean in the midst!  Then your heart can hear God and He can surely lead you in the everlasting way. 

 Sometimes the searching of our hearts and the trying and knowing of anxious thoughts is painful.  But once, that surgery has been performed, you are free to move forward.  Philippians 3:13 says, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Ignoring the past, dragging it along behind you, pretending that it is not there, or allowing Satan to bring it up in your face with lies and doubt will not permit you to put it behind you.  Only when you have offered your past up to the Lordship of Christ and accepted His forgiveness and grace can you move forward.

 Lay it all out there before Christ.  He knows it all already anyway.  Just confess it, and then turn from it and move forward.  That’s repentance.  The shame, the sorrow, the heartache of the past will then stay in the past and God can lead you  in the everlasting way.  Surrender it to Christ for healing and wholeness.

Sanctification

  “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

John 17:17

 Heard a great sermon on this on Sunday.  He quoted Greudem’s Systematic Theology:  Sanctification is being moved out of the realm of the profane and being put into the realm of the divine.  This passage includes to verb forms of the word “sanctify” the one meaning that it was a one-time done deal and the other meaning that it is an ongoing process until its completion.  We were sanctified at the moment of salvation; we are being sanctified (made holy) as we walk with the Lord until the day of completion in Christ (heaven).

 Notice that sanctification is imbedded in truth, and truth is the word of God.  Be there; be in it; live it.  God’s truth, His word, will renew your mind and heart and will bring you to the day of completion, completely sanctified in  Him.  I pray that you would desire no less.

 

Sacrifice of Praise

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,

that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.“
Hebrews 13:15

 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials…”

James 1:2

 Seems contradictory until you realize that the battle is in the mind.  Satan would have us complain and groan about the circumstances of our lives.  God would have us offer up praise to Him because He is in control and loves us.  When we sacrifice our opportunity to complain and gripe and replace it with words of praise and thanksgiving, the Holy Spirit responds and our emotions are lifted and become in line with the truth of who our God is.  Life is up and down.  You don’t have to ride that roller coaster in your thought life.  Live a life steady by turning everything into praise and let God handle life’s rough spots!