Find Strength in the Lord

I love the Psalms because they are raw and real and timeless. David and the other psalmists often wrote of pain and fear, of disappointment, loneliness, and grief. But they also wrote of faith. They turned their thoughts back to what they knew about the Lord God. Like David who returned home from a battle to find that his home and the homes of his men had been destroyed and their wives and children had been taken captive. Those mighty warriors wept and grieved “until they had no strength left to weep” (2 Sam 30:4). David did the only thing he knew to do: “David found strength in the Lord his God” (v. 6).
How do we do that? Psalm 73 is a good answer. This was written by Asaph, a Levite and “worship leader” for Israel. He was dealing with some very strong emotions – anger, envy, and frustration are evident in his words. That sounds familiar. He even confessed, “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You” (vv. 21-22). Yep, been there too. Then comes the hinge on which his heart turns:
“Yet, I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You” (vv 23-25). Yet. Despite the circumstances, he reminds himself of the Lord’s faithfulness and tenderness towards him. This is an act of his will, just as it is for you and me. You may get tired of hearing me say this, but your thoughts are your choice. You can choose to dwell on misery or anger or hurt or you can choose to focus on the goodness, kindness, and faithfulness of God. I know this one personally.
Here’s the part I want you to see; when he turns his mind to God, his heart soon follows. Listen: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (v. 26). And that is how we find strength in the Lord our God. “We take captive every thought . . .” (2 Cor 10:5) and we fill our minds with truth (Phil 4:8). Not just once, but every time those negative thoughts and emotions pop up.
It’s a life-long lesson that I’m still trying to master. But if it worked for David and Asaph, it will work for you and me. Beloved, find strength in the Lord – it will change everything.

For the Weary Warrior

This year has seen my family shatter and Joy unexpectedly taken several hours away from home. It has been a year of grief, conflict, tension, brokenness, and isolation. It has worn me down. My body is tired of carrying so much tension. My brain is tired of jumping through all the legal hoops. My heart is tired of sorting through the emotional aftermath. My spirit is tired of . . . well, my spirit is just tired. The enemy has been telling me I just need to quit – to shut myself up in a room, lick my wounds, and put it all away. In other words, to give up. I’m not going to lie – it has been tempting.
But the Spirit keeps bringing one verse to mind: Paul wrote, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal 6:9). The word “weary” means be so exhausted as to lose courage. Notice it doesn’t say, “don’t admit that you’re tired.” It just says, “don’t give up. Because God is faithful.
I ran across this today in my Facebook memories and it explained so much about the past year and about what I am feeling. It was written by Francis Frangipane of In Christ’s Image Training Ministry. “There are times when we face extended spiritual conflict. We fight, endure, and finally prevail. Yet remember: our enemy is a “thief” (Jn 10:10). You may be so relieved that your main battle is over that you fail to notice your joy is gone. The obvious fight has been won but in your weariness your peace was depleted. Therefore, routinely take inventory of your soul. Wait before the Lord and listen. Make sure the thief hasn’t stolen any of the fruit the Holy Spirit has been cultivating in your heart — that your “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” are all functional and growing in you (Gal 5:22-23).” –www.icitc.org.
Paul and Francis are both right. We can’t give up. But we can rest. There is too much at stake to throw up our hands and throw away our peace and Joy and hope. I’m going to take the summer off from school and I’m going to enjoy every minute I get to spend with my girl. I going to let the Spirit of Christ nurture my spirit. I might even clean up my house. But I will not give up.
Beloved, I don’t know what battles you’ve been fighting, but maybe it’s time to rest a spell. Let the God who loves you heal and refresh you. Just don’t give up.

To Know Him is to Love Him

To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him
Just to see him smile make my life worthwhile
To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him
And I do.

Written by Phil Spector and first recorded by “The Teddy Bears,” this song hit the number-one spot in 1958. Through the years it was covered by many other artists and I bet as you read those lyrics, you were singing the melody. I know I did as I typed them. Do you remember those early days of love, when you just couldn’t get enough of your beloved? You wanted to spend every moment together, learning all you could about one another. What is her favorite flower? What is his favorite song? What makes her happy? What makes him laugh? Her fragrance was intoxicating. You hung on his every word. You became “a student” of the one you love, trying to discover all the wonderful things about them, like hunting for hidden treasures. It seemed that the more you knew about each other, the deeper your affection went.
Do you have the same desire to know and love God? Jesus said, “This is eternal life; that they may know you . . .“ (John 17:3). He also said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37). That’s not a casual Sunday-only relationship.
He is the greatest and deepest love you can ever know. Perhaps it never occurred to you that you can know God, but over and over His Word expresses His desire for us to know Him. The apostle Paul said God wants us to “seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him” (Acts 17:27) The same principle in our earthly relationships holds true in our relationship with God.
I have discovered that the more I come to know Him, the more I love Him and the more I love Him the more I want to know Him. Beloved, can there be any better pursuit for your life than to seek to know and love God? Not just know about Him, but know Him. In the Bible, the word “know” implies a level of intimacy that describes a marital relationship. It means there is nothing that comes between the husband and wife. It is deep. Committed. Unbreakable. Everlasting. That is the love God desires from us. “My heart says of You, “Seek His face!” Your face Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8).

Jesus Cares About All of You

Several years ago I came home from work to discover that someone had broken into our apartment. What they took was of little value but the one thing they stole that really mattered was my peace of mind. The next day I told a coworker about our ordeal. He said, “Be grateful no one can steal your salvation.” Honestly, I was annoyed that he dismissed my feelings so flippantly – and so “spiritually.” Of course I was grateful that my salvation was eternally secure, but was my relationship with Jesus only good for the next life? What about the days when my heart is hurting, when my body aches, when my nerves are frazzled, and my load is heavy? Do I face those days and seasons on my own?
Let’s ask the widow of Nain whose only son had died. Jesus encountered his funeral procession and his broken-hearted mother. Luke said, “When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said, “Don’t cry.” He was moved deeply by this mother’s pain and He touched her heart before He touched the son’s coffin and raised him from the dead (see Luke 7:11-17).
When a great crowd of people stayed and listened to Him teach for several days, He was concerned for them. He told His disciples, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” He miraculously stretched a few loaves and fishes to feed more than four thousand people. He cared about their souls, and their empty bellies (see Matthew 15:29-39).
What would the leper say whom Jesus not only healed, but touched with His own holy hand (Matt 8:1-4). Or the centurion who came to Jesus to beg for healing for his servant? The man was made well by Jesus’ spoken word (Matt 8:5-13). How about Peter’s mother-in-law and a house full of sick and demon-possessed people who received healing? Ask the sick little girl and the sick old woman – Jesus ministered to both of them (Mark 5:21-43). All through the Gospels, He healed the physically blind, sick, and lame, comforted the hurting and marginalized, and ministered to the spiritually unwell.
Beloved, Jesus cares about you – all of you – body, soul, and spirit. He came to redeem and restore and He came to heal and comfort. Trust me when I say you can trust Him with your life – now and forever.

Sin and the Heart

This may surprise you, but I am a sinner. Yes, I belong to Jesus, He has saved me and redeemed me and continues every day to transform me into His image. He has done so much work in my life where sin is concerned. But like every other human being, I was born with a sinful nature and sinful desires. They may be different from the things that tug at you, but sin is a real and present danger for me.
How do we handle our bent toward sin? The Bible has some great advice for us. Here are a few suggestions:
Recognize sin for what it is and don’t make excuses or exceptions for it. (Psalm 51:3-4)
Keep God’s Word close – in your hands, in your mind, and in your heart. (Psalm 119:11)
Keep God closer. (James 4:7-8)
Keep sin-triggers at a distance. Don’t put yourself in positions you know will pull you into sin – whether places, events, movies, T.V. shows, websites, or even people. Take the way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
Repent when you do sin. (Acts 3:19).
Pray.
Repeat as often as necessary.
The prayer I find myself returning to again and again is: “Lord, cause me to love you so much that sin has no appeal to me.” I came to that prayer while meditating on Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.” I realized that if God is my delight, then I will desire only Him – and that is a desire He is more than willing to fulfill.
Because it is all a matter of the heart. When the Bible speaks of the heart it is not talking about emotions but of intention. The heart is “the seat of the thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, affections, purposes, and endeavors.” The heart is under our control. It is affected by what we indulge in – whether sin or righteousness. If God is the delight and desire of my heart, I will take no delight in sin and will instead be repulsed by it.
Yes, I have a long way to go, but this is my heart’s desire. Will it be yours too, Beloved? if you love God with all your heart there is no room in your heart to love sin.

Wait for the Whole Story

By now you know that my favorite way to study the Bible is passage-by-passage, verse-by-verse, and even word-by-word. There is so much wealth in every word of Scripture. But I also want to consider the greater context so I pull back from the close-up of one word and see the bigger picture of the verse and then the passage. Pull back a little more and I can see how the passage fits into the theme of the section and even the entire book I’m studying. If I take this macro-vision even further I can see the bigger-bigger picture of the Old or New Testament and finally the whole Bible.
That’s also how you and I need to look at our lives. Right now, you may be dealing with something very difficult and all your attention is centered on this one thing in your life. It’s all you can see. You are hyper-focused on this single issue, person, or struggle. May I encourage you to pull back just a little and look for the bigger picture? This issue, person, or need is one word in one sentence of one paragraph on one page of your entire life story. But it isn’t your whole story. God has a much bigger picture in mind. The Bible tells stories of people who had a challenge—infertility, oppression, imprisonment, slavery, rejection, even lack of basic life necessities—and God moved in such a way that the resolution to their challenge became a much larger and more God-glorifying part of their story.
In my present season, I am resting my heart in Jesus’ words in the upper room: “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). When I want to say, “God I don’t get this; I can’t figure out why You allowed this to happen,” I hear Him say, “You can’t grasp it now child, but you will understand when you see the bigger picture.” Because there is a bigger picture. There is a higher purpose. I’m leaning on that with all my heart today.
Let’s give God our troubles, our struggles, our difficulties, and disappointments and watch Him unfold something we never imagined (check out Ephesians 3:20). Beloved, your life is so much more than this one moment. Trust the Author of your story, He has a beautiful ending in store for you.

Navigating the Unknown

Life is full of unforeseen twists and turns. A job loss, a death, a difficult diagnosis, a child in serious trouble, a decision that shakes your family – we all will face life-altering situations. We will all ask, “What do I do now?” “Where do we go from here?” “How will I cope with this?” It’s pretty unnerving to not know what’s up ahead. I understand this uncertainty very well. As I pray and seek God’s Word, these are the promises I’m clinging to.
God is my guide along the way – “[The Lord] leads me…He guides me…” (Ps 23: 2, 3). God knows where I’m going – even if I don’t. He knows the path I must take and what challenges lie ahead. He knows the best place to cross the river and where to stop and rest for the night. I can follow Him with confidence because He is a good guide.
God is always with me – “The Lord your God will be with you where you go” (Jos 1:9). God knows I need the comfort of His presence as I make my way through unknown territory. He knows I will become anxious and I will have sad days. He also knows I will wander from the path if I lose sight of Him. He is carefully attentive to me, knowing when I need encouragement, strength, help and comfort.
God will provide along the way – “These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything” (Deut 2:7). As He guided them through the wilderness, God provided the Israelites with water (Exodus 15:22-25; 17:1-6), food (Ex 16:4; Num 11:31-32) and even kept their clothes from wearing out – for forty years (Deut 29:5). Jesus reminds me that my Heavenly Father knows all my needs, and is committed to providing all things for me if I will trust in Him (Matt 6:25-33).
I don’t know what uncertain path looms large before you, but God does. He has promised to be with you, to care for you, and to lead you all the way. To where? Your heavenly home. You and I may not be able to see what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow. Take His hand and let Him lead you, Beloved, He not only knows the way, He is The Way.

When it doesn’t turn out like you hoped

I had hoped in what I believed was God’s plan for my family. But things did not turn out as I hoped and so I’m left with a heavy heart wondering how to live in this new reality. But I am in good company.
I’m reminded of the scene with Peter and several of the disciples. Uncertain of where their lives were going after Jesus’ death, they dejectedly went back to fishing (John 21). And then there are two of Jesus’ followers walking on the dusty road to Emmaus when they encounter a stranger. They tell him about Jesus (isn’t that a kick), sadly saying, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21). They saw their lives going in a completely different direction than they expected.
Part of the problem is our understanding of the word “hope.” We say, “I hope it doesn’t rain out the picnic today.” “I hope he asks me to the prom.” “I hope you feel better soon.” – but these are spoken like “wishful thinking.” The Bible portrays hope as “an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial.” It’s not a hope in circumstances. It’s a hope in God. A hope that we can carry with us no matter what twists and turns life takes. Better yet, it’s a hope that carries us no matter what. That’s the kind of hope you and I need.
Remember Peter and those disciples on the road to Emmaus – the ones who had lost hope? Their stories didn’t end there. At the end of that fishing trip was breakfast with the risen Jesus and restored hope for Peter. At the end of the Emmaus road was the joyful realization that the stranger in their midst was the resurrected Lord Himself.
Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when dreams come true at last there is life and joy.” I believe this is an assurance that our God-given hopes don’t get cast aside when life takes an unexpected turn. Because God expected that turn, even if I didn’t, and somehow the desires He planted in my heart will make the turn too. And when He brings them to reality, they may not look exactly like I envisioned, but they will be full of life and hope. And Joy.

Doctrines of the Faith: Who is the Holy Spirit?

The greatest life pursuit of man is to know God. But that is not natural to our human, sinful natures. The desire to know God comes from God. He orchestrates it and provides the Teacher: the Holy Spirit. To have the Holy Spirit we must know Jesus Christ (Rom 8:9-11). Here you have the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, uniquely three in one. It is one of the great mysteries of the faith, pondered by men for thousands of years. No one has been able to fully explain this Holy Oneness. I choose to take the Trinity on faith. In this part of our Doctrines study, we will focus on the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is a person – not an “it,” and He is equal in power, sovereignty, divinity, and all other attributes of God the Father and God the Son. We tend to think of the Holy Spirit as a New Testament entity, but the Bible tells us that He was an active participant in the Creation. Genesis 1:2 says “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (emphasis added). The Holy Spirit was the power that generated all creation into being.
The Holy Spirit was visible in the Old Testament imparting power, strength, and wisdom to those God used to accomplish His sovereign purposes. However, the Spirit’s activity within man was only for the task, leaving the person when God’s work was fulfilled. One example is found in 1 Samuel 10 when “The Spirit of God came upon Saul in power” and he prophesied. Later, the Spirit departed from Saul when David was chosen by God to succeed him on the throne of Israel(1 Sam 16:14).
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit fell on the believers at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12), giving them the ability to proclaim “the wonders of God” in previously unfamiliar human languages. He was the driving force behind the birth of the new church. The Holy Spirit now dwells within all who place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, not coming and going as before, but literally “taking up residence” in the heart of the believer. He is our assurance that we belong to Christ (Rom 8:9).
We will look deeper into the Scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit in the next couple of weeks. For today ask yourself, Beloved, do I know God through His Holy Spirit?

Marvelous God

“The LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).
When I am in a low season in my spirit God comes to me and lifts me up. He knows what I’ve been through the past year and He cares about the hurt and anxiety it has caused. He also knows that the cure for depression is not chocolate (believe me I’ve had plenty) or pasting a smile over my face. The answer to my weary heart is Him. It is turning my thoughts from myself and turning them to the Lord and how wonderful He is.
I look out my window this morning and see the sun brushing the sky with shades of pink and purple and I see the silhouette of the trees and hear the birds fill the air with praise and think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look forward to picking up my granddaughter today to spend the week with us and I remember that a year ago I didn’t have any contact with her for several months and I think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at this pile of seminary books around me and ponder the opportunity to study and learn about His Word (for free!) and I think, “LORD, You have done this, and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at this sweet ministry of writing and teaching and remember when I had a breakdown and thought God could never again use this shattered woman and I think, “LORD, You have done this and it is marvelous in my eyes!” I look at my life, once lost in the pit of sin and the misery of my own foolish mistakes, now redeemed and full of hope and a future and eternal security, and I think, “LORD, You have done this and it is marvelous in my eyes!” And I look at the uncertainty of the future and think, “LORD, You will handle this and it will be marvelous!”
The Scriptures are replete with reminders to consider all that the Lord has done. It is the best way I know to recenter and refocus my mind and heart when life has delivered a hard blow. Beloved, what marvelous thing has God done in your life? Praise Him for it then trust Him to do it again.