As We Trust In Him

by: jc

SCRIPTURE: Romans 15:13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

OBSERVATION:

The words “as you trust in Him” seemed to pop off the page today. We long to be happy and to have peace in our lives. Oh, to have a worry free day! Oh, to have a day that is marked with JOY! Even when it’s not Christmas.

I think what God is saying to me by highlighting those words is that Joy does not come from a lack of situations that are upsetting and peace does not appear with the disappearance of worrisome circumstances.

My thoughts are drawn this direction because of the word “TRUST”. If every thing is great, where does trust fit? You have to trust when circumstances offer opportunities for negative results. You have to trust when things have gone from good to bad and possess the potential to go from bad to worse.

As we TRUST Him God fills our lives with ALL joy and peace. As this happens our lives OVERFLOW with hope as the Holy Spirit works it into our lives.

APPLICATION:

Hope, joy, and peace, are not connected to the natural/physical world. They are attributes that are connected to our spirits - they supernatural/spiritual. If I am going to possess those attributes then I can’t look to find them in circumstances. Furthermore, they can't be learned by my physical mind. These attributes are imparted to us by God as we learn to TRUST Him.

We learn to trust God by allowing the Holy Spirit to work hope into our lives. We do this by intentionally setting our hearts and minds on what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us.

The intentional part is the practice of spiritual disciplines - Reading scripture, praying, meditating, fellowship, serving God’s church, sharing our faith with others, etc.... Once again God showed me that the greatest miracles, both in quantity and quality, take place in us rather than in our circumstances.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for your overwhelming love. What an awesome miracle that you have performed in us by filling us with your peace and joy. These are attributes that you possess. You are never rattled or sour. Thank you that you impart your image, your attributes, in us. God please help me to trust you more so that I may become more like you. In Jesus name I ask, AMEN!

Calling God To Mind

SCRIPTURE: LAMENTATIONS 3:19-26

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

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.They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

OBSERVATION:

I just had a conversation with my kids about how tough it is to get yucky and negative thoughts out of our mind. It may be a reoccuring nightmare or just negative thoughts, maybe it’s bad memories or the hard time your are currently facing, whether it is based on reality or simply “borrowing trouble” these thoughts are difficult to overcome. Impossible without God in our lives.

I am convinced that most if not all of our battles in life are first won in our minds. We choose to press in or to retreat in our minds. We find hope or lose it in our minds. We remember God’s promises or ignore them in our minds.

APPLICATION:

Winning the battle is not forgetting our struggle or never feeling downcast. It is calling to mind the person of God - the loving, compassionate, faithful, good, and saving God who is enough. It is speaking His character to ourselves in the midst of our struggle. It is waiting on Him. It is giving your spirit a voice not just your mind and your emotions.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for your mercies which are new every morning. Help me to not simply mentally rehearse my circumstances, but to call to mind who you are and who you have been to me. Help me to propheticly speak your person and presence into my circumstances and life. You are good and faithful Lord, thank you for this reminder this morning. If ever I needed it it is now. In Jesus’s name - AMEN!

VALUE COMES FROM THE GIVER, NOT THE GIFT

SCRIPTURE: Ezekial 16:13-16

“‘You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.

‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur.’”

OBSERVATION:

It is an amazing thing how this happens - not to mention how often this happens. Ezekial is painting a picture of the relationship between God and His people. God finds us, or we approach God, beaten up by circumnstances and life. God cleans us up, heals our wounds, place value in us, gifts us with abilities and influence. We get so wrapped up and consumed with the gift that we ignore the giver. We become deceived and belive that it is the gifts that impart value rather than the giver of the gift confirming the value he has given us thru gifting us.

APPLICATION:

God makes all things beautiful in His time - yes, even us. When I see beauty in my life I want it to cause me to trust in God and not in myself. I want it to inspire praise and worship to the one who gives me value and gifted me beauty (character, influence, family, finances, etc.). I don’t want to trust in the beauty but in the one who makes me beautiful.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you that you are doing a thing of beauty in my life. You have gifted me with health and relationships. You have given me a purpose and the talents to walk that purpose out. You have blessed me with so much. I remember who I am with and without you. I choose to give remain in you, the One who makes me beautiful and established my worth. Thank you for all the things you have done and all the you have poured into my life. In Jesus Name, AMEN!

Vitamins & Antibitics

SCRIPTURE: PSALM 143:8

“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”

OBSERVATION:

I am finding more and more that David is on to something with his theme of morning time with God. I am not legalistic, nor do I pretend that David is presenting a commandment or a doctrine. He is simply providing wisdom that comes from a close walk with God.

I lived for many years saying that I am a night person and that I think better at night. The truth is that while I think more and do seem to be more talkative at night, it is not necessarily better thinking and better conversation. My thoughts are usually clouded by the day’s events. My conversation with God is mostly about how I need God to fix me after a hard day’s work.

APPLICATION:

When I spend time with God in the morning I find that I am strengthened for the day. I find what I need to fend off irritation and sickness before the work even starts. The day finds me in Christ and so I easily find Christ in my day. My morning time focuses me on the goodness of God which gives me strength.

To me it’s the difference between taking a daily vitamin and taking your bed time antibiotic. One is preventative while the other is corrective after the damage is done.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for goodness and for your faithfulness. Your mercies, godness, faithfulness, strength, and forgiveness can be found afresh every morning. Lord, help me to be consistent in my devotional life - that I would your Word into my life like a vitamin so I am not desperate for an antibiotic at night. I love you and give you my day. In Jesus name, AMEN!

Borrowing Trouble

SCRIPTURE: JEREMIAH 51:46

“Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.”

OBSERVATION:

There is no doubt that there is a lot to be concerned about in the world. There are many realities that are less than positive that we will need to navigate in our life time. The truth is that is normal life. The Bible says that God will not give us more than we can handle, and that when it is too much for us He becomes our strength. So the real hardships in life are doable - not easy or quick but doable.

I’ve found that most of the people I have counseled as a pastor, as well as observing my own life, that most people who are stricken with fear, stressed out, depressed (emotionally, not clinically), are so not because of the hardships they face but because of all of the possibilities that surround their hardship.

These possibilities are nothing more than rumors. It is funny how much weight we give these things as we draw conclusions regarding our circumstances. Most rumors and possibilities never come true. Some my not be based on reality while others may be real possibilities, but most are not probable. Yet we let those things cause us to lose heart or be afraid. It’s the borrowed trouble that usually takes its toll on us. It’s the borrowed trouble that overwhelms and distracts us from dealing with the real problems in life. It is the borrowed trouble that paralizes us with fear and stress and causes us to throw our hands up in defeat.

APPLICATION:

If I am stressed, it has to be becasue I am taking on more than God has given me. If my circumstances are too much to handle, it is because I have taken more than my share of the burden. If I am afraid I have most likely borrowed trouble somewhere along the way - trouble that may never happen or trouble that is God’s to cary. I need to concern myself with what I can do to navigate my circumstances today with God, and not borrow trouble for tomorrow.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for giving me what I can handle and for carrying the things that are beyond me. Help me to not borrow trouble by listening to rumors - whether they be from people who mean well or the enemy whispering doom & gloom into my ear. Help me to remember that every circumstance contains the potential for you to be glorified and for me to transformed into your image. Help me to face my days with faith in your word and not fear rooted in rumors. In Jesus’ Name, AMEN!

I'm My own Mother???

SCRIPTURE: 2 JOHN 1:1-4 

 “To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth - because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:  Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love.  It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.”  

OBSERVATION:

One of the beautiful metaphors of the Bible is the Church as a family.  John is writing the “chosen lady” (the church) and her children (the individual believers).  What stands out is that the community, the unified believers, together are deemed the mother while those same people on an individual level are her children.

When we are looking at the task of making disciples we see that each person is part of the nurturing, caring, and teaching mother who brings discipleship to her children, and at the same time those same people are the individual children who receives nurture, care, and teaching from her.  This really spotlights our interdependence.  It amplifies how we truly need each other in our journey with God.  We are at the same time dependent and depended upon - caring and being cared for, nurturing and being nurtured, teaching and being taught.

APPLICATION:

What I see here is that while we may mature in relationship with Christ, we never outgrow our place as child and our need for our mother.  We may become more engaged in our role in the church as one who nurtures, cares, and teaches.  We may become more stable in our personal relationship with Christ, but we never outgrow our relationship with Jesus.  I need to make myself available for service and open to be cared for by others.  The second for some reason is harder than the first.  The “for some reason” being pride.  So much so that I had to say “for some reason” than to readily admit my pride.  So the focus God wants me to take today is to lay down pride, walk humbly before him, and call on the church for help when I need it.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for providing so much in my life through your church.  Your people have provided teaching, care, nurture, provision, direction, correction, among many other wonderful things to my life.  I also thank you for the honor and the privilige of being able to walk with others in that role of teacher/caregiver.  I pray for the community of Crosspointe, that you would help us to collectively make up a healthy mother, who produces healthy children.  In Jesus’ strong name, AMEN!

The Interdependence Of Christian Community

SCRIPTURE:  JAMES 5:15-20

”Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up... 

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective...

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.”

OBSERVATION:

The first thing that pops into my mind is that God’s work is done in community.  Someone is sick, the community of believers prays, God heals. Someone sins, the community is confessed to, God forgives and heals.  Someone waivers in their faith and wanders from the truth, the community reaches out, God saves.

I am afraid that we have made our realtionship with God too personal.  It is personal in the sense that it is a relationship between God and I - I am the only person accountable for my walk with God - It is my faith alone that grabs onto salvation in Christ.  On the other hand this relationship is lived out in relationship and community with people.  Serving God is lived out among the “least of these”.  Worshipping God is lived out thru communion with other believers.  Growing in my relationship with God is lived out as “iron sharpens iron” so one man sharpens another”.  Seeing God work in others inspires  faith in God for my own life.

It is my personal realtionship with God, but it is interdependant with other believers.  It is their relationship with God but it is interdependant with me.

APPLICATION:

I need to both invite others into my walk with God and engage in other’s walks with God.   I need to call on others when I am sick, when have struggled with sin.  I need to engage with others, take the innitiative, when I see others struggling in their faith.  I can’t simply wash my hands saying, “It’s their personal relationship, I have nothing to do with it.”  So I will keep my eyes open and be intentional today about how I can be a source of healing and encouragement to others.

PRAYER:

Father, thank you for the wonderful community of believers that you have blessed me with.  Thank you for their many gifts and talents, for their hearts to serve and care for others, and for their desire to grow in you.  Father, help me to be a source of your work in their lives - serving them, praying for them, listening to the, bringing truth to them, and lifting them up in prayer.  Also, help me to remember that I am a part of the community - you have placed me at the helm as their pastor, but my position does not remove me from simply being a part of the community of faith.  At times I will need encouragement, healing, forgiveness, and accountability.  Help me to be vulnerable and transparent to you by being vulnerable and transparent to the people you have placed in my life.