It's interesting to know where joy is found.
I know joy is found in my Savior. And yet my heart is entrenched in so many other lesser desires. If I didn't know that my heart was secure in Christ's blood, I would be tempted to think that my faith just wouldn't stay steadfast, amidst my sin.
It occurred to me today, as I was struggling to trust the Lord, that all He wants is our faces turned towards Him, ready to receive from Him. He wants us to stand, through our trials, not with a carefree happiness and delight, but with a steadfast hope that endures, hour after hour, day after day.
Also, the Lord reminded me in my Daily Light [devotional that is a part of my quiet time] that I am not my own. We have been bought with a price, and now we belong to Christ, forever.
This is a good thing, and a sobering thing.
It is a good thing, because we will never be plucked from Christ's hand. We are His forever, because He loves us. We will always be cared for, no matter the circumstances or the condition of our hearts. We have trusted in Christ for his salvation and will not be put to shame- we will stand before God on the last day and have Christ as our advocate, Christ as the reason we can enter in God's perfect love.
It is a sobering thing, because, the promise of God's care throughout our whole life does not mean the absence of trials.. My dad once said, which clarified my understanding greatly, that God promised protection and deliverance, physically, for the Israelites, if they would obey His commands. What He promises us, as Believers in Christ, is not that things will go well for us on this earth, but that we will be cared for. Everything we experience in this life, is from His loving hand- whether it's big or small. ALL are lovingly given, all are a part of God's care for us- our sanctification. The Lord disciplines those He loves. But as Elisabeth Eliot reminds me, [Katharina von Schlegel wrote it]
Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side
Bear patiently, this cross of grief and pain
Leave to Thy God to order and provide
In every change, He faithful will remain
Be still my soul, Thy best, Thy Heavenly Friend,
Through thorny ways, leads to a joyful end.
We will see His glory. It is worth it all- this suffering is for a wonderful, amazing, beyond-comprehension purpose! We have a great, great, treasure in Christ, we are restored in Him, by His precious blood, to the God of the Universe, who is the source of ALL GOOD THINGS, and He does all things well. This world is passing away, but His love is from everlasting, to
-everlasting-
on those who fear Him.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
A Convicted Heart
Who am I?
to not see the importance of walking in love? Who am I, to continue to walk in dissension with my brothers and sisters?
The past week or so God has shown me grace, the great grace of my salvation, and I finally know the comfort and peace of it- He is all my hope for favor with God, all He has done is all I couldn't do; attempts in myself to become holy, even "through Christ" are only my flesh deceptively trying to find glory for myself. So yes- my hope is in Christ, but I went to the other extreme as God relieved my heart from almost a works mentality this week. Not all the time, and not outrightly at first, but I thought about it yesterday, and I was simply rejoicing in Christ, and... hm... serving my own agenda! My own neat little agenda with things I wanted to get done, whether it's 'acts of service' or not- it was still my agenda, and when things got in the way- fleshly frustration.
Perfect example- this morning.
I've been sleeping downstairs because my room is so chilly, and therefore I've been doing my quiet time on the couch... let's just say the house was not quiet, downstairs, this morning, when I was was just trying to 'glorify God by doing my devotions'... well my reactions to the situation completely exposed my sinful heart, as I was reading 2 John, Matthew 4, and subsequently John 13:34-35 I think.
First things were going well, Matthew 4 was about how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures through Satan's temptations. Before I've looked at that passage and thought, "I need to live up to that, oh no!!!" But this morning, the Lord was revealing that Jesus is all we can rejoice in, Jesus fulfilled the scriptures so I could have favor with God just by trusting Jesus and rejoicing in His perfect substitution. Then I ended up in 2 John.. by the grace of God, to expose my attitude [and reactions!] to my siblings, and not having quiet... [I wasn't even in my own room- so selfish of me!!!]
"Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God- whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son." [2 John 9]
I was sooo not doing that, as I said in the first couple sentences up there. And yet we always find perfect forgiveness, and perfect help. God is a God of perfect forgiveness and perfect help. Lord you are our help. We can look to You- the perfect God of the Universe, and not that You came down and led a perfect life of love so we don't have to earn that favor with the LORD. You are our favor, and You are our power.
We are called to JOY in the Savior through service! We have died to that nature that says we have to live for ourselves to be happy. Our joy is in the cross of Christ and letting that transform our life. We are called to increase our joy by abiding in the Savior's perfect love, and living a life that is in perfect surrender to Him, and His Spirit in us.
Let us forsake the flesh and love the better joy of loving others today... of thanking God for bringing us near to Him, rejoicing in all that He has supplied us with in Christ. We are not called to worry about tomorrow's grace, or tomorrow's strength. We only have to live for today, this minute, resting in Christ, resting in His perfect work that He did, and how it is only in rejoicing in Him and making Him look radiant that we can do anything of worth. Humble me, Lord, Humble me and delight me in You.
I'm sorry this is so long... I for sure won't be posting every day but fridays are slower days so I thought I'd post. <3
to not see the importance of walking in love? Who am I, to continue to walk in dissension with my brothers and sisters?
The past week or so God has shown me grace, the great grace of my salvation, and I finally know the comfort and peace of it- He is all my hope for favor with God, all He has done is all I couldn't do; attempts in myself to become holy, even "through Christ" are only my flesh deceptively trying to find glory for myself. So yes- my hope is in Christ, but I went to the other extreme as God relieved my heart from almost a works mentality this week. Not all the time, and not outrightly at first, but I thought about it yesterday, and I was simply rejoicing in Christ, and... hm... serving my own agenda! My own neat little agenda with things I wanted to get done, whether it's 'acts of service' or not- it was still my agenda, and when things got in the way- fleshly frustration.
Perfect example- this morning.
I've been sleeping downstairs because my room is so chilly, and therefore I've been doing my quiet time on the couch... let's just say the house was not quiet, downstairs, this morning, when I was was just trying to 'glorify God by doing my devotions'... well my reactions to the situation completely exposed my sinful heart, as I was reading 2 John, Matthew 4, and subsequently John 13:34-35 I think.
First things were going well, Matthew 4 was about how Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures through Satan's temptations. Before I've looked at that passage and thought, "I need to live up to that, oh no!!!" But this morning, the Lord was revealing that Jesus is all we can rejoice in, Jesus fulfilled the scriptures so I could have favor with God just by trusting Jesus and rejoicing in His perfect substitution. Then I ended up in 2 John.. by the grace of God, to expose my attitude [and reactions!] to my siblings, and not having quiet... [I wasn't even in my own room- so selfish of me!!!]
"Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God- whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son." [2 John 9]
I was sooo not doing that, as I said in the first couple sentences up there. And yet we always find perfect forgiveness, and perfect help. God is a God of perfect forgiveness and perfect help. Lord you are our help. We can look to You- the perfect God of the Universe, and not that You came down and led a perfect life of love so we don't have to earn that favor with the LORD. You are our favor, and You are our power.
We are called to JOY in the Savior through service! We have died to that nature that says we have to live for ourselves to be happy. Our joy is in the cross of Christ and letting that transform our life. We are called to increase our joy by abiding in the Savior's perfect love, and living a life that is in perfect surrender to Him, and His Spirit in us.
Let us forsake the flesh and love the better joy of loving others today... of thanking God for bringing us near to Him, rejoicing in all that He has supplied us with in Christ. We are not called to worry about tomorrow's grace, or tomorrow's strength. We only have to live for today, this minute, resting in Christ, resting in His perfect work that He did, and how it is only in rejoicing in Him and making Him look radiant that we can do anything of worth. Humble me, Lord, Humble me and delight me in You.
I'm sorry this is so long... I for sure won't be posting every day but fridays are slower days so I thought I'd post. <3
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Psalm 34
"This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all His troubles" [ps. 34]
We have to really cry out to God what we are struggling with and not say simply the religious cliches we're supposed to say, or God doesn't usually, really change us.
"Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it." [ps. 34]
We pursue these things because it will go well with us. Because this is the only way to 'have life' and 'love many days', to learn to live this way, only in Christ. Simply because this is true life, this is the way Jesus lived and the way we will live in Heaven, the way God empowers us to live through the life of Christ in us; and because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, our inheritance is secure and we have new power within us- new power! Every day we have new power, which is never, not, new power.
"I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith [trustful, relinquishing-all-self-reliance, dependance on Jesus] in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." [Galations 2:20]
Many are the afflictions of the righteous
but the LORD delivers Him out of them all.
He keeps all his bonesl
not one of them will be broken. [ps. 34]
That is our Jesus. That is our Jesus whom we love! We are in relationship with Him, whose bones were not broken [John 19:36], and He helps us, hallelujah. Jesus is our righteousness, Jesus is our security. Jesus fulfilled all of these demands for us, and secures forever forgiveness with His blood. We can hope in Him, Him alone, forever. He will help us, He will be with us, He will redeem us make us holy, and glorify our bodies with Him; we are His inheritance.
Bless your name- You are good; You are faithful- we should always trust in You!
In your Son, my Savior,
Ashley
and saved him out of all His troubles" [ps. 34]
We have to really cry out to God what we are struggling with and not say simply the religious cliches we're supposed to say, or God doesn't usually, really change us.
"Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it." [ps. 34]
We pursue these things because it will go well with us. Because this is the only way to 'have life' and 'love many days', to learn to live this way, only in Christ. Simply because this is true life, this is the way Jesus lived and the way we will live in Heaven, the way God empowers us to live through the life of Christ in us; and because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, our inheritance is secure and we have new power within us- new power! Every day we have new power, which is never, not, new power.
"I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith [trustful, relinquishing-all-self-reliance, dependance on Jesus] in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." [Galations 2:20]
Many are the afflictions of the righteous
but the LORD delivers Him out of them all.
He keeps all his bonesl
not one of them will be broken. [ps. 34]
That is our Jesus. That is our Jesus whom we love! We are in relationship with Him, whose bones were not broken [John 19:36], and He helps us, hallelujah. Jesus is our righteousness, Jesus is our security. Jesus fulfilled all of these demands for us, and secures forever forgiveness with His blood. We can hope in Him, Him alone, forever. He will help us, He will be with us, He will redeem us make us holy, and glorify our bodies with Him; we are His inheritance.
Bless your name- You are good; You are faithful- we should always trust in You!
In your Son, my Savior,
Ashley
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