Beyond Mere Endurance

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. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (New International Version)

David said in Psalm 119:161, “My heart trembles at Your Word.“ This morning I know what he means. God is showing me a truth that literally has me trembling like I have just taken in a huge amount of caffeine! My mind is racing, my heart rate is up, and I am trying to contain the joy because of something I am seeing for the first time.

I have often read 2 Corinthians 12:9 without fully realizing what God was saying to Paul, and in reality, what He was saying to me. Paul had asked God to remove a thorn of some sort from his life. Possibly this was in the area of a physical weakness…maybe poor eyesight or an actual disease of the eye. Whatever the case may be, the answer was “no” with the promise of God’s grace being sufficient for him. All that meant to me was God was going to give Paul the ability to endure. To be quite honest with you, that gave me little comfort. It felt more like a disappointment then an assurance because I could not see what God was really saying.

I am seeing the meaning of three very important words and it is causing this verse to come alive. In this verse, grace is referring to God’s loving-kindness, favor, and strength. Sufficient not only means to have enough to defend or ward off but to possess unfailing strength in a satisfying and sufficient amount. And rest means Christ’s power descending upon one, working within him, and giving him help. When I put all the puzzle pieces together I am seeing God’s promise to EMPOWER me with His strength in the midst of whatever has come into my life….especially those things that are not going to go away. It is in my weaknesses, infirmities, and inabilities that God’s strength and power will be evidenced and showcased in my life. It will come upon me, work in me, and help me physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

In the midst of tremendous loss, earth shattering news, devastating medical diagnosis, financial crisis, weather related catastrophes, or any other life altering dilemma, I can tell myself and any other child of God, that His power will mightily infuse them. It is the same power that raised Christ from the dead! It is not simply endurance. It is victorious empowerment!

Father, I need these words this morning as I look ahead to the things I can’t face, handle, or survive on my own. I admit my weakness and embrace Your strength. May the manifestation of Your power in my life be magnified and multiplied! I stand in awe at the implications and importance of Your words to me. Amen.

Praise You in the Storm - Casting Crowns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHdcyue0bSw&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

His Continued Work

As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. Ecclesiastes 11:5 (New King James Version)

Just over fifty-one years ago, God finished forming me in my mother’s womb. I don’t know how He caused me to grow and develop inside of her, yet that did not stop Him from doing so. And I don’t understand all the ways He has chosen to work in my life since the day of my birth, but that too has not stopped Him from doing so. With that said, this is becoming a day of reflection for me.

God has woven together the pieces of my life which have included joy and sorrow, tears and laughter, relationships and loneliness, successes and failures, gains and losses, and so on. I have not always understood what He was doing and why He was doing it, but I am realizing more and more that He really is doing what is good for me and glorifying for Himself. Peace and joy abound when I embrace His choices, plans, and purposes for me. When I strain against Him, I lose every time.

Several years ago, God began showing me what He was like. His heart has been revealed to me through His Word as well as through the body of Christ. As He has corrected my distorted view of Himself my life has been changed. Those revelations and corrections have often been the subjects of many devotionals. He still has much to teach me but I marvel at what He has done so far. Up until recently much of the journey has been about learning the truth about God. But God is clearly letting me know He is now choosing to help me learn the truth about myself. In His wisdom He first allowed me to feel safe with Him. And now within that safety I can open myself up to His view and knowledge of me.

He is tender yet persistent in showing me where I am broken, where I have been affected by childhood experiences, my misunderstandings of relationships, and my mistaken ways of getting needs met. He is also showing me where I fail to trust Him and accept what He offers me each day. Just a short while ago I bent the knee and shed tears over my refusal to embrace His reason for bringing in and removing individuals in my life. The inability to move forward has finally been removed as His forgiveness and mercy have been extended to me once again.

I share with you each morning NOT as one who has ‘arrived’ but as one who is learning. I struggle and I succeed on a daily basis. I bleed when I am cut and I cry when I am hurt. The difference is I have finally learned to admit it all to God and other believers. I choose to continue to live my life with the perspective and power that comes from God’s heart and hands as I walk with Him.

Father, sometimes I feel like I barely know You or myself. Continue to reveal Yourself to me and expose me to the truth about myself. With You I am safe to see both. Amen.

Warrior is a Child/Do I Trust You - Twila Paris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pzu-jWpcdw

Fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith!

The Way of Love

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3 (New International Version)

There are times when I want to pull away from everyone I know. My mind makes a decision to not answer phone calls, emails, or letters. It is called shutting my heart down, resisting the urge to need anyone, and safe guarding myself from disappointment, dissatisfaction, discouragement, and depravation. But God is letting me know that is not the way He would have me live. That is living out of my flesh instead of out of my spirit. It will grieve Him and do no one any good whatsoever.

God’s Word tells me to love others. I must allow His command to be more than words on a page and a sound in my ear. On a practical level, loving one another means I keep myself open to fully receive others as God brings them across my path. I welcome their conversations and listen to what their needs are. I ask God to show me ways to minister to them and allow His Spirit to infuse me with the love, desire, and ability to do so.

It also means setting aside the thoughts of who I would like to be involved with and watching for how God intersects my world with the ones of His own choosing. It becomes a time of anticipation rather than frustration. It also becomes a way of life whereby I receive abundance from Him and become a conduit of encouragement to others as I give to them what He has graciously given to me.

Will He encourage me through others? Absolutely! Will He allow others to be His conduit of grace to me? Most definitely! But He will choose the person and the timing. His desire is that I learn to rest in His hands and in His ways. Not squirming! Not sulking! Not closed off! But rather open to all that He intends this day to bring forth through me and to me.

Above each activity and each moment I need to display the words, “His ways are higher than my ways. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. His plans are good. His love is enough. He is God!” Learning to live in trust and cooperation with Him and sensing His presence and His smile throughout my day is what will make today unique, powerful, and precious. May I go forth with praise on my lips, joy in my heart, and arms open wide to give and receive.

Father, thank you for the way that only You can redirect my thoughts and actions. I bow to the wonder of You. Amen.

Worship Song - Maranatha Singers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMpbm2p-1mo

Fixing my eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of my faith!

When All Is Stripped Away

Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places. Habakkuk 3:17-19 (New American Standard Bible)

In a time and place when agricultural supply was a necessity this passage shows the bleakest of circumstances. Without the number of stores and safety nets we have available to us today, a famine or crop failure was devastating. No fruit, no yield, no flocks, and no cattle, meant no sustenance, source, or security. It would be the picture of the Great Depression in Biblical times. Some who are reading this devotional may at this time be without a job or facing the prospect of losing the job they have. It is one thing to know all is well when a paycheck is being drawn each week and there is money in the bank for needed expenses. It is another thing to have all stripped away and no relief in sight.

God’s answer to Israel through Habakkuk is His answer to us as well. Rejoice in Him. See Him as our salvation and strength. See Him as the One who will help us walk above and beyond our circumstances. He is not weakened or limited by what is going on around us. Many times, when all is well, we can easily take our eyes off God and rest in a false sense of security. We can forget who He really is and all that He can do in our life. When what or who we trust in apart from God is removed (temporarily or permanently) we are forced to see what our opinion of God really is.

I will admit, I have never been financially destitute. I have never been given a devastating medical report. I have never been in dire straights morally. I have never been stripped of honor and dignity. But I have been emotionally bankrupt and wondered if the darkness would ever leave or even diminish. At that time, I had to reevaluate my dependency, trust, and view of God. I had to stay in His Word and see His unchanging nature. I had to view my situation through the grid of His truth and presence. I had to see that at all times I was still in His hands and under His care. In order to rejoice in Him and in His promises, I had to pull in closer to Him. Whether the situation is in the area of the physical, spiritual, social, mental, or emotional, seeing that He is still God and still in control is the only means of survival and abundant living.

Father, though the things and people around me change, You do not. You are my Source. You are my Security. You are my Provider. You are my God and I praise You and rejoice in You. Amen.

You're Still God - Kathy Troccoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvclzwpAMxg

Holiness is a furnace that transforms the men and women who enter it. - Eugene H.Peterson

Following the Examples

For I have given you this as an example, so that you should do (in your turn) what I have done to you. John 13:15 Amplified Bible

Who has influenced your life greatly? Who stepped in and reshaped the meaning, direction, and purpose of your life? Who nurtured your spirit, lifted your sites higher, and gave you a godly nudge in the right direction? Who did God use to impact not only your life, but your character, vision, and potential? For some, the list might be endless. For others it might hold the names of a precious few. They may have been members of your immediate family, part of the body of Christ, classmates, neighbors, or professionals. They may have remained in your life for years or for a brief span of time. But you know without a doubt you were forever changed because of them.

I would challenge you to do two things if possible. First, let them know. So often people have no idea how they’ve affected another individual and are quite surprised when they find out. Your words could bring a gift of significance to them. It could be just the reminder they need to see that God in fact did work through them. Your card, visit, email, or phone conversation could brighten their day and world in a special way. Don’t just tell them they impacted your life….give the details! With each word you will be celebrating their life, your life, and the combination of both!

The second thing you can do is be a living tribute of them. Determine by God’s grace and help you will take the opportunities to influence other lives. Ask God to show you creative, profound, and unique ways to shape another person’s existence. If nothing else, simply duplicate the words and actions that meant so much to you. Take the time to listen to others and learn what their needs are. There are people in your sphere of influence that no one else has the opportunities to reach like you do. Ask God to open your ears, eyes, and heart to another student of life.

That person who so greatly touched your life was the living example God placed in front of you at the right time and in the right place. Now you are that example to another person and God delights to see the interaction that is about to take place. What is forthcoming will be the greatest expression of “thank you” toward God and the people He used in your life.

I believe Heaven will be filled with revealed influences but let’s not wait until then. Sit back, close your eyes, make your list, share your appreciation, and then live your life determined to continue what was so graciously done for you!

Father, with a heart full of gratitude I thank you for the gifts you have given to me in other people. May I experience the joy of now being on the giving end! Amen.

Go Light Your World - Kathy Troccoli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVSHCbolJew&feature=related

He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. Job 36:16

Squelching or Quenching the Thirst

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 42:1,2 (New King James Version)

Julie Ackerman Link said in her booklet Loving God With All My Heart, “The thing that frustrates me the most is a reliable indicator of my highest desire, and my highest desire indicates what I worship.” Desires are the very things that drive us to do the things we do and to chase after the things we chase after. I so often want to just squelch, ignore, or deaden the desires that remain unfulfilled in me. But God is nudging me to bring the desires to Him and allow Him to meet them.

When He becomes my desire and the One I look to for the satisfying of my desires then my life takes on a whole new dimension. I begin to feel more at home in my skin because I am finally turning to the right source and living life as God intended. Freedom and growth come as I once again realize I was created with desires that were given in order to draw me to God. But Satan loves to dangle counterfeits in front of me and convince me the desires can be met in them rather than in God. He will even take the things God meant as gifts and use them as possible means for satisfaction.

For instance, it is all too easy for me to look to relationships to make me feel loved, affirmed, accepted, and complete. But the need for those things run deeper than any person can possibly reach. It is like trying to quench my thirst with a thimble full of water…it is just not going to be enough. So in an effort to not feel the disappointment from my counterfeit sources, I condemn myself for wanting to be loved, affirmed, accepted, and complete, and try to deaden the desires. To live my life in a state of numbness becomes my answer.

But God says there is a better way to live my life! Look to Him for the fulfillment of those desires. Bring the longings and cravings to Him. He is the only One who is fully available and able to do for me what no person can do. Will He ever use people in my life? Absolutely. But never as the primary source. NEVER!

Why did the Psalmist proclaim God as the One He most desired? Because he knew there was no other way to quench his thirst. He longed to drink freely and completely from the only Fountain of Living Water!

Father, You alone can quench the thirst that persists in me. May I learn to drink my fill of You. Be the core desire of my inner person! Amen.

All Who Are Thirsty - Robin Mark
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnvSf2dX18&feature=related

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.

In Need Again

Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21, 22 (New American Standard Bible)

It is one thing to consider Peter’s question when you are in need of forgiving someone. It is quite another when you realize you are the one standing in need of forgiveness on a continual basis. Wanting to kick yourself for repeated patterns of behavior and seeing little change. Knowing that the person you are asking forgiveness from AGAIN is one who has seen the worst in you and still sees it. Not always sure of the response you will get, it is easy to walk with a sense of shame and embarrassment. Eye contact is minimal as is conversation. It is one of the most uncomfortable positions in which to be.

This morning I am asking myself why so many of us as believers walk with a sense of condemnation after we have failed when Scripture clearly states there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For me, there are numerous reasons. My actions remind me of how opposite of God I really am. I cringe at imperfection and I have so much of it to cringe at! Repeated offenses remind me that change is slow in coming and at times I doubt it will ever come. Insecurities come to the surface and work to convince me that I have now given another person every reason to stop loving me and I fear they will. Ultimately, I know I don’t deserve another chance. I wonder how many of these thoughts plagued the prodigal son on his trip back home. Fearful he would receive the kind of reception his brother eventually gave him and not at all expecting what his father lavished on him. I know those thoughts too well.

It is times like this when God’s forgiveness or anyone else’s forgiveness is too extravagant to grasp or hope for. When the sin stains seem too numerous and the reputation too damaged. When the stench of our sin nature still lingers in the air.

Today will be a day of learning how to not only ask for forgiveness but how to receive it. How to feel safe in it. How to feel cleansed and refreshed by it. How to sense everything is okay once again. That is what I am in need of and that is what I seek.

Father, when You see the sins of my heart and actions I cringe. But when others see those things I cower. Restore to me the joy of my salvation within the corridors of forgiveness. Amen.

What Sin? - Morgan Cryar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Wdzzx6-f4

Getting into God's Word and letting God's Word get into me one truth at a time.