Tag Archives: Jesus

Equipped

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All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV*

Sometimes I need a balance adjustment. While I’ve been spending time in prayer and God’s word, learning to love Him better, and growing in relationship with Him, that’s only part of the goal.

He wants to equip me for good work. St. Paul makes this even clearer when he says we must turn away from wickedness and ignoble purposes and become “instrument[s] for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21, NIV)

Christians are intended to show Jesus’ love to the world. We have the Great Commission and the promise of His presence. Loving Him, expressing our love to Him, isn’t complete if we’re not looking around with His perspective, seeing what He sees, and acting as He wants to act through us.

If I want to know how to pray for people and events – if I want to know how God wants to use me in people’s lives – I need to pay attention to what’s going on. Ask Him about it, think about it, and not be so quick to drop it in pursuit of other tasks or diversions.

Instead of waiting to get close enough for God to reveal His perspective, I need to be doing my part – be faithful in the little things – if I hope to see progress.

Father, thank You for loving us. Please help me pay attention as You show me how You want to love those around me.

We can all make today’s song our prayer: “Give Me Your Eyes,” by Brandon Heath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mhpLjPslbM

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

A Satisfied Soul

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Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5, NIV*

In last week’s post, I was caught by the promise of forgiveness, healing, and rescue from the pit. They shaped my prayers, both for those who don’t yet know Jesus and for myself.

Later we had a beautiful snowfall, and I thought about how something will occasionally renew my sense of wonder. These same verses came back to mind.

I’ve praised and thanked God for forgiving all my sins and healing all my soul’s diseases. I’ve committed to Him any diseases I’ve nurtured or kept from Him, praying in trust and thankfulness that He wants to finish what He started. I thanked Him for rescuing my life from the pit.

In prayer for certain hurting people, I claimed the rest of the passage and prayed for renewal. For me, I thanked God without thinking about what it meant.

LORD, what does it mean to tell my soul You crown it with love and compassion?

That you satisfy its desires with good things so its youth is renewed?

What sort of things does a soul desire?

When something renews my sense of wonder, everything feels more alive. The world is brighter, my faith more vibrant. Hope glows, excitement and possibilities dance.

Father, please open my soul to be satisfied by the good things You provide: Your own presence with me, sunlight on icicles, a flight of birds. A rainbow. A good story. A miracle. Help me let You renew my soul’s youth… my innocence?

String these moments together to make a lasting change. Help me embrace them and renew my soul. Forgive me for how quickly I’ve forgotten and subsided under the daily stress. Help me let Your renewal glow within me, a holy light to warm and heal.

Oh, LORD, I praise You for Your mercies toward me – mercies You promise are new every morning. Let my soul not forget Your benefits, nor discount them as “only for others.”

I’m not being a bother or an inconvenience to accept these benefits from You. Instead, I’m actually blocking Your will if I don’t. Your love and grace initiated this, and my proper response is joyful acceptance.

And wonder.

Today’s song is “Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul“, sung here by Andrae Crouch and choir.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Healing for the Soul

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Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5, NIV*

King David is reminding his soul of all these benefits – not speaking to a group of people but to a single soul. Look at verse 4a: “redeems your life” is singular, not plural.

It’s safe to apply these verses to any and all souls belonging to God, not just David’s own. What strikes me today is how the context implies David isn’t listing the God’s benefits for all believers but for all believing souls.

I’d never seen this distinction between soul and body. Knowing the passage isn’t promising to reverse physical aging in verse 5 nor necessarily promising to satisfy all fleshly desires, I didn’t know how strongly to take verse 3’s promise of healing all diseases. But if this is all specifically promised for the soul, there’s a huge difference.

Forgiveness of all the soul’s sins – that’s fairly straightforward. Isn’t the soul the part sin kills? Some sins, such as inward rebellion, may even be specifically soul sins. Redemption language talks of our souls, once dead in sin, being made alive again.

Crowning a soul with love and compassion sounds like tender restoration. Renewal of youth sounds like rejuvenation of energy and wonder, maybe even of innocence. Reversal of the damage of sin.

Healing all diseases… what would be a disease of the soul, and how many might one soul have? Shame, self-deprecation, pride, fear…? God promises to heal them all in the same breath as promising to forgive all sins. Past, present, and future.

Shame and company are harder to get rid of at times than physical diseases. Praise God, He promises healing!

In this light, how can I pray for the people on my heart? How can I pray for myself? Father, lead and show me how to pray in faith for the souls of those You lay on my heart. Help me walk in faith that You are healing my own soul and finishing what You have begun. Thank You so much for the forgiveness, healing and renewal You give.

Today’s song is “By His Wounds,” sung by Mac Powell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Brian Littrell and Mark Hall on the Glory Revealed CD. This is an amazing video of Christian performance artist and speaker Mike Lewis painting as the song plays. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JElzkHX5smE

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Taught by the LORD

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The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.
Isaiah 50:4-5 NIV*

Reading this, I feel something inside whisper this is how it should be: close to God, taught by Him, useful to others… to sustain the weary is a needed gift.

The end of verse 5, about not being rebellious and not drawing back, gives me a bit of a pause, but we do need to make the choice of His will or our own.

Then come verses 6 – 7:

I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.
Isaiah 50:6-7 NIV*

This is Jesus, His suffering. What He voluntarily endured out of obedience and trust toward God the Father. For us.

He was not rebellious, and didn’t draw back, so we can be saved from our sin – and ourselves – and thrive in relationship with God today.

I don’t think I could face that level of obedience. I don’t even want to think about it. Rebellion, drawing back?

God calls us each to walk a different path with Him, and this hardest path He entrusted to His own Son. For all the martyrs and suffering saints in the world, there are others whose faith leads them in quiet and unremarkable lives.

But to be a Christ-follower is to face at least occasional opposition from those who oppose Him. Rejection and ridicule, however subtle, are part of the package. Nobody’s going to want to choose that.

Lord, help me choose You, for You have chosen me. Give me a hunger for You that won’t let me draw back or rebel against You. Help me want You more than I want self-protection. Help me trust You like Jesus, secure that the Sovereign Lord is my help.

I’d like to learn words to sustain the weary. And I’d love it if You’d wake me each morning and open my ears to Your teaching. Please give me an obedient and trusting heart. Because of Jesus, amen.

“Somewhere in the Middle,” from Casting Crowns‘ The Altar and the Door cd, talks about this struggle. But for this week’s song I chose the next one on that album, “I Know You’re There.” May the lyrics and melody be our prayer and help us to surrender in trust to our great God.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Shepherded

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My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
John 10:27-28 NIV*

There is security in being shepherded by Jesus. Eternal life gives us security for the future, but today I’m drawn by the day-to-day side of it: No one can snatch us out of His hand.

No one can snatch Him from us either. He’s with us for the duration.

We know from Psalm 23 that the pastures won’t always be green nor the waters still, but He will always be with us. And if He leads us through a dark valley, He has a purpose and a plan.

Sometimes we see those valleys coming: the doctor’s appointment or the bad news we have to break. Sometimes our easy path takes a sharp turn and we’re blindsided.

Jesus is never caught off-guard. By His very nature, He cannot vanish in a puff of confusion. His rod and staff are with Him to comfort us, and He knows the best route through the valley.

The most beautiful discovery I’ve made in those dark parts of the journey is this: God was still with me. Even when I was completely surprised, He already knew how He planned to bring me through. He knew it, and He did it.

Jesus thank You that You are the good Shepherd. We can trust Your intentions, wisdom, strength and care… whatever happens. Please give us the faith and courage we need to stay by Your side instead of fleeing when we see danger.

Our song this week is an old hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” sung here by Michael Card. This one was my sustaining prayer on the way into one of those valleys I saw coming and feared the way out of.

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Declaring God’s Praises

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But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:9-10, NIV*

As Christians, we are chosen, changed. Rescued, because God loves us. Having experienced God’s mercy, we get to tell others how wonderful He is.

And our message isn’t just “trust Jesus so you can go to Heaven when you die.” It’s “trust Him now, to experience new life now.”

Jesus paid to rescue us from the darkness that trapped each one. For some of us it may have been twilight-level darkness, for others the pitch black of a deep cave. Compared to God’s clear light, it restricted our vision and diminished our quality of life.

“Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me” and I need to share the amazing opportunity with those who want to hear. Not a pushy “sister, are you saaaaved,” but “tell me your story, and let me tell you mine”.

When I see God at work in my life, touching my day, I need to praise Him and I need to share it. It may cause someone who doesn’t know Him yet to think about Him. It’ll definitely encourage the heart of someone who already knows Him. We’re on this journey together, let’s help one another along the road.

Father, please open my eyes to recognize what You’ve already done in my life and what You’re doing each day. Grant me a grateful heart, and help me share You with others.

Most days our stories aren’t as dramatic as the one in this song, but I pray the LORD will stir us to want to share them. Here’s Don Francisco, singing “Gotta Tell Somebody.”

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Not Breaking Faith

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…set your heart to honour My name…set your heart to honour Me.
Malachi 2:2, NIV*

The study notes in my Bible say to read Nehemiah 13 to get the background for the prophet Malachi’s rebuke to the priests and the people of Israel. They’d returned from the Babylonian captivity, but they weren’t honouring God. And the people had broken faith: with one another, with their spouses, with God.

Some of the negatives Malachi said to them resonated with me as positive reminders of how to live.

Daily, we need to set our hearts to honour God.

We need to be like the first Levite priests, who “revered Me and stood in awe of My name.” (Malachi 2:5b)

“So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.” (Malachi 2:16b)

God’s name is His character. If we know Him, we can trust Him. If we say we’re His but don’t live like it, that gives others a poor example of who He is.

Father God, please grow in me a proper reverence for You, a love for You and awe of You. Help me to set my heart to honour You. Help me guard myself in my spirit, that I not break faith with You or with those around me. On my own I can’t do this, but I praise and thank You for Your grace, that the blood of Jesus has saved me and that Your Holy Spirit dwells in me. He can do what I can’t.

Our music for this week is Matt Redman‘s “Heart of Worship.”

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Expectant

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Here is the man whose name is the Branch…. It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne.
Zechariah 6:12-13, NIV*

The prophet is told to have a crown made for Joshua the priest, and to say these words. And the crown is to be kept in the temple “as a memorial” (v.14)

I’m caught by this declaration and “memorial”. The people are to act in the present, but as a sign of expectation of a future event. They expect to see God act, and this is their sign of hope, their demonstration of faith. They have confidence in God’s plan.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy, the Branch who is building a temple of living stones, His followers.

We can be confident that God will act. The hard part is, there’s usually no guarantee how. Will He heal, or instead sustain grieving loved ones? Will He topple a corrupt regime, or strengthen the suffering? Provide a job, or give humility to visit the food bank?

I praise You, God, that You will display Your glory–Your character–for all to see. Don’t let us miss it because we’re looking for an answer You chose not to give. We may not understand You, but we can trust You.

Our song this week is Matt Redman‘s “You Never Let Go.”

*New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.