Glory – VOTD.06.25.18
And [the seraphim] called out to one another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah 6:3 It is…
Hope – VOTD.06.19.18
“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1
I’ve spent the past few weeks hiking… climbing mountains, enjoying magnificent views. How much more clearly we are able to see our surroundings when we’re standing on top of a mountain instead of hanging out in a valley. Metaphorically, God wants us to come up higher to where He is, so we can more fully see things the way He does.
Sometimes we feel discouraged or even let down by God. Many times, we can’t see the full picture of what God is doing in our lives because we aren’t able to see things from His perspective.
It’s easy to focus our attention downward at what’s wrong with our situations and circumstances. There’s nothing wrong with considering what’s going on around us, but if we’re not looking upward, we won’t have God’s perspective… seeing things the way He does.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 121:1,2)
Many of us are still living in the narrative of our past or trying to deal with our present struggles out of the perspective of our past storylines. God sees us in our painful situations, and He will not leave us alone. He hasn’t dropped us. God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)?
After repeated losses, it’s easy to give up hope…to simply not want to continue hoping, only to be disappointed again. When that happens we need to intentionally choose to live each day with gratitude and joy. That puts us in a position to receive new things from the Lord…to walk in His plans of hope and a future (Jer 29:11)
Focusing on our loss keeps us so distracted that we can actually miss the blessings God is trying to release to us. (more…)
Waiting on God’s Promises pt 4 – VOTD.03.26.18
So, my very dear brothers and sisters, don’t get thrown off course. Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, and comes down from the Heavenly Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:16-17
It would be appropriate to say, every ‘promise’ God freely gives us is a gift, and as a gift from God, it is good and perfect, just like He is. Last time we began looking at what we can do while we’re waiting on God to fulfill His promises to us. How can we partner with Jesus in responding to His promises as we wait for their fulfillment?
First of all, (and we talked about this last time) we are rejoicing while we wait. We’re not rejoicing about our waiting. We’re rejoicing in Jesus who is with us as we wait because our capacity for His presence is expanded as we visualize the mystery and wonder of who He is.
Secondly, we are patient while we wait. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We can be patient because we trust the One who has made the promises. Patience goes against our human nature—but it is so much a part of God’s nature—it’s the way Jesus is.
So as we wait, we work with God as He develops His own nature in us, so we become more like Him; including patience. It is not enough to just ACT patient; we must actually BE patient.
But often, when the waiting gets long, Holy Spirit’s fruit of patience deteriorates into passivity, which isn’t a good way to wait for God’s promises. We need to wait actively. Waiting on the Lord isn’t passive, it’s active. Passivity encourages us to “just get through it”. It is what leads so many Christians to accept something less than the promise of God just to arrive at a solution.
Passivity leads to pragmatism. If we’re waiting for the Lord to fulfill His promises in passivity instead of patience, we’ll often just settle for anything that works…anything that ends the waiting. (Remember Sarah giving Abraham her maid to produce God’s promised child? (Gen 21) Same idea.) We’ll settle for something lesser and miss the real promise that God will produce: “Christ in us, the hope of glory”, not just rescue us from our current dilemmas (Col 1:27). (more…)
On the Path to God’s Promises – VOTD.03.20.18
Let joy be your continual feast. Make your life a prayer. And in the midst of everything be always giving thanks. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
In today’s verses, Paul identifies three areas of our lives we must focus on as we wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled to us: 1) unbounded joy; 2) praying continually; and 3) giving thanks to God no matter happens. Last time we began looking at what we can do while we’re waiting for God’s promises to be fulfilled. We began by looking at rejoicing.
As we wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled, we need to be faithful to what we know we are supposed to do. Here are 3 ‘basics’. Psalm 16:11 says, “You will show me the path of life…” The devil is roaming about “seeking whom he may devour”(1 Pet 5:8). Jesus is our safe path (Jn 14:6). Most towns have a Main Street, every Christian has one also. As we stay on it we’re in Jesus’ protective care. But, especially when we get anxious to see God’s promises fulfilled, we look for shortcuts, and we end up needlessly exposed to the enemy’s harassment.
So here’s a few ways to stay on Jesus’ path while we wait:
Don’t look Around (Avoid Distractions)
It’s easy to be lured away into worldly thinking (1 Jn 2:15) and be deceived by the enemy by the “innocent” distractions that are presented to us… To fixate on what is not Jesus; obsessing over something that is beneath Jesus’ high calling for our minds: “So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.” (Phil 4:8)
Many of us know the Proverb that says, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is”(23:7). We become what distracts us.
Don’t Look Down (Avoid Fixation on the Need)
Never once does the Bible tell us to look down. We are always told to look up. Some of us are so wrapped up in longing over our unfulfilled promise that we exude dissatisfaction with our current state. Self-pity and then resentment press in and our relationships with other believers (especially those who God has fulfilled His promise to) are disrupted or damaged.
Many believers miss God because of negativity…don’t join them. We need to keep our gaze on Jesus, not our problem. And we know that we’re looking at Him because when we’re looking at Jesus we’re possessed by thankfulness instead of dissatisfaction. (more…)
Rejoicing in God’s Promises – VOTD.03.19.18
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. John 4:10
Jesus spoke today’s verse to the Samaritan woman who had come to the well at midday to draw water. Jesus was waiting there and engaged her in conversation. He asked her to give Him a drink from the water she was drawing. Her objection may have been motivated by many things, but the one she chose was, “Why would a Jewish man ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water?”
The passage goes on to reveal that this woman was waiting for God’s promise of the Messiah to set everything right, but she didn’t seem to be waiting very intently. In fact, she can represent many of us as we wait for God’s promises.
In the busyness of life, we can get distracted from God’s promises and find ourselves marching mindlessly one foot after another, just trying to keep up on a weary journey without much enthusiasm or purpose. How often are we settling for the lesser things, when God is offering a far more magnificent ones? And why do we do that?
The woman at the well thought Jesus was promising to save her from her boring daily task of trudging to the well each day. She didn’t recognize Jesus’ promise initially, though she would receive it eventually. Often we only recognize God’s larger promises—what He’s really orchestrating in our lives—in retrospect. His promise came and we didn’t even notice at the time.
So what are the primary obstacles in recognizing the promises of God? And how can we partner with Jesus in seeing them more clearly and quickly? (more…)
Waiting on God’s Promises pt 2 – VOTD.03.13.18
Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
Last time we looked at how we rediscover and realign ourselves to God’s promises when the waiting gets long. First we looked dwelling on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises. Second, we talked about keeping our agreement with God’s promises active and practical rather letting them fade into the theoretical and abstract.
One final way we can keep refreshing God’s promises in our lives and realign ourselves to them:
3) Declare our partnership with God. Declaration allows us to affirm our passion and re-calibrate our thinking to align with His. Once we know the specific promise God wants to bring into our daily reality, we can be quick to declare our agreement and commitment to partnering with Him to see that promise become reality.
It works like this: “Jesus has given me everything that pertains to life and godliness to become all that He promises.” AND “Because I have this promise from Jesus, I will see the promise fulfilled.” This isn’t presumption. We have Jesus’ promise and what we’re doing is aligning our mind, will, and emotions with that promise. (more…)
Waiting on God’s Promises – VOTD.03.12.18
The One who began this glorious work in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ! Philippians 1:6
A common question when considering the promises of God is, “Why haven’t my promises come to pass yet?” What does it mean when the gap only seems to widen between promise we’ve received and promise fulfilled? And what do we do with the time in between?
Often, when we find ourselves waiting for God to fulfill some promise He’s given, it means that God is creating a new level of partnership and fellowship with us – and you and I are invited to join Him. He’s making us able to receive the fulfillment of the promise – capable of handling the responsibility that goes along with any of the gifts that He gives us.
And sometimes when we find ourselves waiting a long time for God to fulfill His promises, we become distracted from those promises. We remember them, but we’ve stopped actively agreeing and aligning our hearts with God’s intention. When we do that, we step out of the place of agreement that He has for us and lose some of the and fullness that is needed to walk out His promises.
So how do we rediscover and realign with God’s gifts of promise?
1) Hear the unchanging commitment of God in His promises. Dwell on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises, just as today’s verse promises us. (more…)
Finding God’s Promises – VOTD.03.06.18
For all God’s promises find their “yes” of fulfillment in him. And as our “amen” ascend to God, we bring him glory! We owe our position in Christ to this God of positive promise. 2 Corinthians 1:20-21
Everyone likes a positive promise from God, but often the more complicated part of living out God’s promises, or waiting for them in faith, is discovering what God’s promises are in the first place. Sure, there are plenty of promises in the Bible and they’re all ours, and we should claim them. But there are also more unique promises God has; one-off promises for you or me. How do we find them and how can be sure we’re putting our faith in the right place?
1. Ask. Want wisdom? James tells us to ask God for it (1:5). Want to know God’s promises? Ask God for them. Many of us forget this and think we have to figure things out on our own or get them from some especially spiritual person. Ask God. Trust that He’ll answer.
2. Be faithful where we are. There are lots of God’s promises we already know – they’re in the Bible. Faithfully hold onto the promises God gives us collectively in His Word. When we handle the little He’s given us, He trusts us with more (Matt 25:23).
3. Listen. Continue to study the Word of God and pray (two way communication) (Mal 3:6, James 1:17). Sometimes it helps to get away with Jesus and just talk it out. Take a walk, a drive, do something mindless and manual – get beyond the distractions and spend some TIME. This leads to:
4. Get to know God. Many are afraid they’ll get tricked into “presuming” a Promise that God hasn’t really made. But the better we know God, the less of an issue that will be, because we know He won’t give us a promise that is contrary to His nature.
By the way, Jesus is not worried about our presuming. We’re the ones who are worried about presuming. Do we really think the Lord is fretting in heaven because His followers are believing Him for too much? Is it Jesus who wants to put a brake pedal on our faith? Or would that be the enemy of our souls?
Can we presume too much? Sure. But Jesus can handle that… He can deal gently with people who believed Him for something we’re not ready to receive yet. He can lead us into a fuller revelation of the Truth. But if we shy away in unbelief or double-mindedness, it makes it tough for Him to gently nudge us in a better path. Some of us are so fearful of presumption that we’ve not actually moved. And the only one who profits from that is the enemy.
5. Wait. Waiting is not usually easy. But the good thing about waiting on God is that it drives us deeper into Jesus, where our trust of Him grows and toughens. Waiting on God allows us time to think, pray, and listen for that wisdom God has promised. (more…)