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“Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your ropes, and drive your pegs deep. For you will spread out to the right and to the left, and your descendants will dispossess nations and inhabit the desolate cities.” Isaiah 54:2-3
When Moses led the people of Israel into the wilderness they were unsure of what was to come. They were beaten up, abused and ready for a change. The past glory of these people had long gone. Memories of Joseph and the favor God’s people experienced were just stories handed down from grandparents. There was little hope within the boundaries of Egypt, but God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Joseph seemed forgotten as well.
When the people of God were finally delivered from their physical bondage they entered the wilderness and once again pursued God’s promise. After forty years of wandering the wilderness, living in tents and learning to follow God’s commands, they entered into the Promised Land. The nation grew physically and powerfully and, under King David, became a dominant force in the Mediterranean world.
Hundreds of years later, Isaiah uses the analogy of the tent to encourage the people of Israel. Sin had entered the camp and the glory of Israel once again disappeared. Isaiah reminded the people of the time when they lived in tents. During those times of wilderness wanderings, as families grew, tents would have to be expanded to accommodate new members. All this was done in hopes of a new era of God’s working in their lives. Now, Isaiah was telling them that a new, exciting adventure was about to happen.
Isaiah was referring to the church and the coming of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus new power and blessing would follow those that grow deeper in Christ. As Christ followers we are empowered to move out of the slavery of our sin and into a life of power and excellence. As we grow deeper in Christ and leave our lives of sin and bad habits He will help us move into areas of our lives we may never have thought possible.
Because of Jesus, we can be blessed as we draw closer to Him and move into uncharted territory. Don’t allow the slavery of your past to keep you from growing deeper in Christ’s love. Through Him alone you can experience joy and peace like you never thought possible. Don’t let negative thoughts about yourself keep you from experiencing Christ’s joy!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, the mistakes of my past and the pain of my sin is ever before me. Empower me through your Holy Spirit to leave the crippling power of my past and trust you for the new challenges of the day before me. Thank you for loving me and forgiving me. Help me grow in you so that I may live a life of joy and excellence. Amen.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
We are not remodeled. We are not restored. We are not refurbished. We are new creations. What an amazing truth to ponder. To remodel, restore or refurbish means that we take what is good from an object (car, building, etc.) and try to recreate it to its previous state, or improve upon its previous state to make it better and more useful.
The Bible tells us that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are new creations. Our Father doesn’t reach down and try to refashion us into what we once were. He doesn’t take the good parts and set them aside, remove the bad stuff and then rebuild us. He makes us new.
The Apostle Paul says, in Corinthians, that all of the old is gone now. The past has been removed. In Jesus Christ we are brand new creations. That means that we no longer need to live in the shadows of our past. The poor choices, the broken relationships, the addictive tendencies no longer need to rule over us.
Does that mean that we won’t ever struggle with sin? NO! In Romans Paul tells the candid truth that even this great man of God struggled daily with sin. He says, “The things I want to do, I don’t do. The things I hate to do I find myself doing!” As long as we live on earth we will struggle with the temptation to do things wrong. But Jesus wants better things for us. He died to remove sins penalty. He rose to give victory over the grave. He ascended to Heaven to prepare a place for us. He sent His Spirit to empower us to live more fully for Him each day.
You are a new creature in Jesus. Don’t let the past haunt you any longer. The things of your past no longer have any control over who you are. In a sense you no longer have a ‘past’, only life with Christ. Walk daily with Jesus. Let Him direct your paths and show you the way to living live fully in Him. Jesus alone can free you from the barriers of the past and empower you to live completely new lives in Him.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I thank you for the love you have shown through Jesus. Thank you for the way you made me in your image. I confess that the sins of my past have kept me from living the life of fullness you have for me. I pray that I will learn to walk more closely to you and that through your Spirit the baggage of my past will be left behind. Help me to live as the new Creation I am. Amen.
When we were at Mount Sinai, the Lord our God said to us, ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough. It is time to break camp and move on…Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it…” Deuteronomy 1:6-8 (NLT)
The Israelites were on their way to the Promised Land! After years of captivity they were going to finally receive the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. It wasn’t an easy journey. The people grew tired of setting up and taking down camp. They missed the comfort of Egypt, even though they forgot about the abusive pain that they endured while there.
Soon they came to Mount Sinai and things got better. They had food provided to them daily, the Lord kept them in the shade of His cloud by day and they had the pillar of fire to keep them warm on the cool desert evenings. For two years, although they were surrounded by wilderness, they lived in comfort on the mountain.
Soon the word of the Lord came to them. You’ve stayed here long enough. This mountain-top experience has to end so that you can receive the real promise, the ultimate blessing of the land I have prepared for you. Pull up stakes. Head into the Wilderness so that you can receive something much better than you have now.
The message is much the same for us today. We have dreams. We have things we’d like to do. But we grow comfortable in our surroundings and don’t want to venture out. After all, who’d choose to be in a wilderness when we can enjoy the mountains.
If we want to receive all that God has for us it is impossible to stay in our comfort zone. But often it is easier to stay where we are. We don’t like hardship. We want to be comfortable and experience all the good things of life and God. But growing doesn’t come when we are comfortable. Growth, true Spiritual Growth, comes during those wilderness experiences when God teaches us to trust in Him.
Our Heavenly Father uses the hard times of life to teach us lessons we must learn to glorify Him. His goal is, and always will be, to give us the things we desire, to show us His good and perfect will. Until we are ready to leave our comfort zone and venture into the wilderness we will never experience the promises God has for us.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I confess to you that I far rather prefer comfort and mountain top experiences than I do the hardship of the wilderness. I know that I need to travel through the wilderness in order to receive all you have for me. Please give me the courage to step out, to get off my mountain and follow you. Strengthen me as I go through the wilderness and help me trust in You. Amen.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein, Reggie Jackson had one thing in common. Failure. Michael didn’t make his eighth grade basketball team, yet became the NBA’s greatest player. Albert Einstein failed middle school math and became the greatest mathematician in history. Reggie Jackson was one of the greatest hitters in baseball, yet holds the record for the most strikeouts.
These men had another thing in common, a refusal to give up. They refused to believe that the setbacks they encountered in life determined their outcome. They believed enough in themselves that they eventually realized their dreams.
One day Jesus was talking to His disciples about the Kingdom of God. He told them what it would take for a person to enter the Kingdom of God and one of the disciples remarked “then who can be saved?” What he was really saying is, “then it’s humanly impossible for any of us to enter the Kingdom. The requirements are too great. We’ll never make it.” Jesus responded by saying, “You are right. Man alone can not accomplish this. Only with God is man able to enter the Kingdom.”
Every day we are met with challenges and obstacles that seem insurmountable. The task seems too great. People tell us we’ll never be able to succeed. The enemy, Satan, reminds us of past failures and mistakes. You may be struggling from an addiction or bruised from a broken relationship. Even family members may step in and tell us we just won’t ever make it. If we listen to those voices we will never be all God wants us to be.
Often times the difference between failure and success is just six inches. That’s the approximate distance between your ears! If you believe in yourself, you will have a much better chance of success. If you rely on God to help you with the task He will lead you, guide you and show you the way. Realistically set goals for yourself. Goals that are small steps to success. Want to write? Do a sentence a day. Want to lose weight? Start with that one walk, skipping that first snack.
Then, above all, grow closer in your walk with Christ. Let Him show you what He wants to accomplish in your life. Believe in yourself and believe that God truly wants you to succeed. With man many things are impossible. With God ALL things are possible because of His great love for us and His overwhelming power.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I have no trouble believing in the ‘big things of my faith’. I know You are the creator God. I know Your Son Jesus came to die and be raised from the dead so I can have eternal life. My struggle believes you for the day by day successes in my life. Help me to believe in you so that I can succeed at all you have for me. Amen.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4
Every day we encounter situations which can affect our entire outlook on life. One negative comment can send us scrambling for shelter like a frightened armadillo or startled turtle. It can be something as simple as a cross word spoken or a misunderstanding of the meaning behind something we hear.
When we fight the world’s battles with the worlds weapons defeat is inevitable. How we react to daily situations in our lives can have a lasting effect on how we feel about ourselves and what we can accomplish in life. A parent’s disappointment in us can affect us well into adulthood and even affect how our children feel about themselves. It isn’t the obstacles in life that determine our success or failure. How we view of ourselves is more often the determining factor between success and failure.
The Apostle Paul tells us that the weapons we have to fight life’s battles aren’t the same weapons the world uses. The weapons of the world are destructive. The obvious weapons of physical warfare are easy to see and while they can cause death and destruction, the unseen weapons of the world are in some ways more destructive because they don’t leave bruises or blood, only inner pain.
Because of Jesus we can overcome these weapons or strongholds of criticism, judgmental attitudes, vindictive rumors and the like. When we listen to the attacks of the enemy and allow them to determine how we see ourselves, depression, poor self-esteem and discouragement are bound to follow and have detrimental effects on our relationships.
The divine weapons we have been given offer life not destruction, healing not wounding, building up, not tearing down. They are based on God’s view of us and not the view we or others have of us. When I see myself as God sees me it doesn’t matter how others view me! Other people see my failures, my mistakes, and my faults. God sees me as His beloved Child. He looks at me through His Son, Jesus.
Don’t allow the weapons of the world to thwart Gods power to attain the life you want to have. The abusive words and actions of those in your past can be set aside as you pursue all that God has for you in Christ Jesus. With the weapons we have we can overcome the strongholds the world would like to place on us.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, help me to see myself as you see me and not be affected by the negative and destructive actions of those in the world. Empower me through your Spirit to lift the fallen, encourage the weary and patiently bear with those intent on my demise. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 