by David Brenneman
"Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.” Psalms 139:4-5.
“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.” Psalms 86:11.
“Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.”
Proverbs 23:26.
“Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.” Proverbs 23:23.
“Listen, my son, and be wise, And direct your heart in the way.”
Proverbs 23:19.
“Apply your heart to discipline And your ears to words of knowledge.”
Proverbs 23:12.
“Do not let your heart envy sinners, But live in the fear of the Lord always.” Proverbs 23:17.
At times, the lessons of life will appear too much for us to handle. The Lord calls us to an impossible task, permits our dreams to be shattered, pinpoints something important in our lives that we need to relinquish, or allows such profound loss that it leaves us reeling.
At that point, perhaps our instinct is to run away from God-
resisting His claim on our lives and escaping what He requires of us. We just cannot face it all. Our hearts are too weak, our fears too real, our suffering too profound. We don't want to yield to Him-to release our will to His. We say, "Lord, I know what You want me to do, but I can't. There has to be a better way." But how do we run from the presence of the infinite God, who is everywhere at all times constantly beckoning US to return to His arms?
You cannot-and that's on purpose. Friend, Jesus does not
leave you alone, because He loves you. He knows this situation is
difficult for you, and He wants to help you. So don't be scared of
facing Him. There is strength, healing, and hope with Him. So
stop running. Go to Him and live.
Jesus, I'll stop running, Thank You for helping me. Amen.
-"Trusting God with Today" by Dr. Charles Stanley.
You and I, my Dear Reader, are beyond any form or kind of special in the eyes of God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. There's oh so much more to this life you're to be living than you can possibly imagine if only you put your whole trust in Jesus.
We're not like the world whom wander aimlessly trying to make something of themselves in their spiritual darkness. We have the light of Jesus Christ within us to show us His still better way.
When we're trying to live lives apart from His will for us it's not going to work out so well. Perhaps you have already experienced the struggles and setbacks associated with that. I know that I have. Unfortunately I have all too many stories to tell of my attempts at living a lukewarm lifestyle in Christ.
Jesus wrote of His profound love for us throughout the Scriptures. He wrote of things yet to come that He tells us to be excited about.
He wrote of what this world doesn't have to offer that is found only through obedience to God's Word.
He wrote about why the world won't understand.
All too often, in our feeble attempts at seeking understanding, we go to the world rather than our Father in Heaven about the things we are facing in life. Only God knows what we are experiencing is of Him or not. Contrary to popular belief or thinking, quite often what befalls us is our own sin nature. It's not God nor is it the devil, just our poor choices and bad decisions.
We get it in our heads some failing notion of what's important enough to pray about and what we think is ridiculous to bring to Jesus in prayer.
Jesus made it incredibly clear to bring everything to God in prayer.
Nothing is petty to the One who loves us so unconditionally!
Your life, your relationships, your situations...all of it...bring it to the Lord in prayer.
Doesn't say to seek first your own way then when that doesn't work then come to Me.
Doesn't say to ginormous amounts of time, energy and effort in your own understanding and estimation then after you're at your end then go to Him.
My Dear Reader these ways only lead to failure after failure.
Scripture says that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.
We quite often get it in our heads that we have a right to tell Jesus what that should look like.
We attribute sadness, despair, disappointment, resentment, bitterness, anger even, at His rejection of His plans for us.
“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord,”
Jeremiah 29:11-14a NASB1995
Really really sink your teeth into that last portion of this passage.
We came to Christ for salvation. We owe Him our everything.
We should be trusting God with our everything.
We should be loving Him with our everything.
This absolutely must include the direction of our lives.
My Dear Reader we have this:
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. ”
2 Corinthians 4:7-10.
So when we're in pain, life not making much sense, we're a work in His progress. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6.
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. ” Colossians 3:23-24.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim...in the light of His glory and grace.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
(C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.
A corporation not for profit.
La Habra, CA All rights reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment