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Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Lamentations 3:21-22 (NLT)
Jeremiah walked the streets of Jerusalem in agony. He saw homeless children who had become orphans due to war, now dying in the streets of starvation. He saw the elderly looking lost, confused and yearning for the days when they lived in prosperity, but now lived in hopelessness.
In the midst of the national horror, he’d experienced huge personal loss as well. He was verbally and physically abused by those he tried to help. He was all alone and in despair he cried out to God, but it seemed that even God Himself had turned a deaf ear to his pleas. Everything that he considered sacred and secure had either been destroyed or taken from him. He was alone, brokenhearted and saw no hope.
As Jeremiah looked around and took stock of what he was seeing, he was reminded of one thing that had remained constant throughout his ordeal; his faith in a God that loved him and had shown himself faithful in years past. It was the hope that he had in God that helped Jeremiah see that even in the direst of situations God still was in control.
Later, in chapter three he writes: “For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love. For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.” (Vss. 31-33)
Hundreds of years later Jesus would teach us the same truth in the story of the Prodigal Son. As the young man sat hopelessly in a pile of pig slop with no money, no hope and no friends, he remembered his father. He remembered home. Pulling himself out of the slop he returned to the one place he knew there would be acceptance, love and compassion. The arms of his father.
So it is with us today.
No matter what you have done in your past to separate you from God, you can always come home.
No matter how much debt you have and how hopeless your financial state, you can always come home.
No matter what consequences of poor choices you carry with you, you can always come home.
No matter what relational turmoil you are in, even if it is a result of your actions, you can always come home.
No matter what abuse you have suffered emotionally, physically or spiritually, you can always come home.
No matter how long you have rejected His call in the past, you can always come home.
Your Heavenly Father longs to have a passionate love relationship with you. He is not concerned about your past. He is not worried about your future. He can help you with present struggles. When you see no light in the darkness; no hope in the midst of despair; no comfort in the midst of your pain. Jesus urges you to come home and rest in His loving arms.
PRAYER: Father God. I look at myself and the mess I’ve made of things and am embarrassed to have to come to you time and again for forgiveness. I am under attack by those who constantly attack me verbally, emotionally and physically and struggle to find ways to carry on. I contemplate the future and fear for myself, my children and my grandchildren. I ask today that you would empower me to rest in your arms of everlasting arms. I can’t do this without you. Amen.
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
The Bible tells us in many different places that if we come to God with our requests that He will hear us and answer our prayers. Jesus says that ‘if you have the faith of a mustard seed you can move mountains.’ We are taught that prayer is the most effective weapon we have in combating the issues of life that surround us.
The reality is that even for those of us that believe in Jesus Christ and strive to follow him throughout our entire lives, sometimes it seems like our prayers go unanswered. We pray for health issues and people die. We pray for safety and injuries happen. We pray for financial success and debt results.
Sometimes God withholds what we think we need because He has something better in store for us. We ask for things, even good things but don’t know the future. Our Heavenly Father loves us dearly and wants only the best for us. But He knows better than any father what is best for us. When we look back on our past we’ll be able to see that His way is truly best.
We may ask for physical things. Good things that will help us be comfortable and healthy; things that will help others or even bring others to Christ. But those things may keep us from relying on God for His provision.
God knows what things will make us stronger and wiser. He knows what lays ahead of us tomorrow. He has promised never ever to leave us. It’s a matter of faith. If God is who we say He is then we need to learn to rely on Him with the same faith and confidence whether the answer is yes or no to our prayers.
We are also promised that we will receive our needs dependent on His strength and His riches. Not on our own ability to provide. It’s easy when we are in distressing situations to think that our deliverance will somehow depend on our own strength or our own worthiness. But God’s word tells us that His promises to meet our needs are based on Jesus, not us.
As we grow closer to Him through reading the Bible and daily prayer He will meet our every need physically, spiritually and emotionally. We serve a God of grace, not one of vengeance and hate.
PRAYER; Father God, I confess to you that I am sometimes filled with doubt when I pray. I pray expecting that the answer will be ‘no’ or that you won’t answer at all. I get discouraged and start to doubt you when things I ask for don’t happen. Please forgive me for my lack of faith. Help me to grow closer to you each day and to believe will all my heart that you will meet my needs, not always my wants, because of who Jesus is. Thank you for your promise to help me through the most difficult times of life. Amen
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:27
The first time he left Egypt, Moses ran in fear and disgrace. He was a success story from the beginning. Hidden in some weeds by his mother to escape the brutal murder that thousands of other baby boys did, he was welcomed into the house of Pharaoh and rose to the top of Egyptian leadership.
But now, having murdered an Egyptian for beating one of his fellow Israelites, he ran for his life into the desert. Afraid, alone and no doubt feeling very defeated.
One day, years later, Moses was tending sheep when he saw a bush erupt into flames. This wasn’t uncommon in the noon day heat of the wilderness. Sometimes a bush would burst into flames and burn up for no apparent reason. This bush, however, didn’t burn up and Moses stopped what he was doing to gain a closer look.
God used the burning bush to call Moses back into service for him. Even though he had murdered a man and left in disgrace, God still had a plan for Moses. God sent Moses back to Egypt with courage to accomplish what God wanted him to do.
Moses courageously returned to Egypt and demanded that the king let his people go. The King refused until, after many miracles and plagues, the King and all the people of Egypt begged the Israelites to leave their land. They even loaded down the people with gifts and livestock for their journey into the wilderness.
Like Moses, each of us has times when we flee into the wilderness. We’ve failed at some point in our lives. We’ve made bad decisions that have hurt others, destroyed our careers or damaged our reputations. We live in fear, guilt or remorse always wondering how life would be different if we’d made a better decision here or there.
With God, failure isn’t the end; it’s the beginning of new and exciting opportunities to live for God. Once in the wilderness God had Moses in a position where God could speak to him, teach him and send him back to Egypt to be victorious. No matter what has happened in your life God wants to do the same for you.
Where ever you are on the journey of life don’t forget to look for the burning bush. Look for things that God is bringing into your life to teach you, guide you and empower you. No matter what you have done in life, no matter how angry or bitter or afraid you are God wants to take you from the wilderness you are in and help you succeed.
Don’t be afraid of the future. Once Moses saw the burning bush he realized that God could accomplish anything. Draw close to God. Moses spoke face to face with God, just as you can through prayer. Moses heard what God had to say to him, just as you can through reading the Bible and meditating on what He has to say to you.
Keep your eyes focused on what you can’t see! As a Christ-follower, remember that God is with you through His Holy Spirit. You are never alone. You are never unseen. In fact scripture tells us that God’s angels are everywhere, protecting us, guiding us and watching over us with the same love and admiration that God Himself has. We won’t know until we get to heaven how many times an angel has intervened to save us.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father. I thank you for the example we have in Moses of how you can use anyone to accomplish your tasks, no matter what terrible and evil things we have done. Right now, I’m living in a wilderness. I’m afraid of the future, ashamed of my past and unable to live the way I want to in the present. I ask that you would help me to see the unseen. To live realizing that You have given me everything I need for today so that I can live in victory. Give me the courage of Moses to be strong in You. Amen.
Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria, and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah. Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.” Isaiah 7:9 (NLT)
“Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.” It’s a short little phrase stuck in the middle of an important part of Israel’s history. King Ahaz had to make a decision. Would he really put his faith in God and stand firm against the enemies that wanted to destroy Israel or would he put his trust in a neighboring countries power?
In the midst of his emotional and mental struggle God said “Go ahead. Ask me to show you a sign of what you should do and what will happen.” It was a crisis of faith for the King. Where was his true allegiance? Ahaz chose not to ask for the sign. In the end he trusted the neighboring power rather than the God of heaven and his kingdom was ripped from his hands.
Each of us must choose where our true allegiance is. It’s a daily decision, even a moment by moment decision. The enemy wants us to doubt who is really in control. It happened in the Garden of Eden, “Did God REALLY say you’d die?” It happened in during Jesus time on earth when He visited His hometown and the Bible tells us “He did no miracles there because of their unbelief”.
As Christ-followers we must always remember that God’s way is the best way. We must measure each of our actions according to what God wants and allow Him to determine the outcome by His power. God CAN do anything we ask but He requires that we first trust Him to do what is best for us, even if His best seems detrimental at the time.
There will be bumps along the road. There are going to be forks in the journey with confusing sign posts directing you along the way. As you grow closer to Christ, through obedience and knowledge of His word, He will show you the path to take. Don’t be afraid to ask Him. Don’t impatiently take action on your own.
Never forget that the Creator God of the universe loves you and wants you to experience all He has for you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. But you need to make that first step. Each of us needs to make a conscious decision to trust Him above all else and actively believe that He can and will see you through life’s obstacles. That’s what His love is all about.
PRAYER: Father God, I acknowledge that you are the creator and sustainer of the universe. I believe that you have all things in control. But I confess to you that there are many times during my day when I am faced with a choice to follow my own wisdom or ask you for direction. This almost always takes me down the wrong path. Forgive me for living in fear. Forgive me for following my heart and not what I know to be true. Help me to stand firm and step out in faith, truly believing that You can and will accomplish great things if I let You have control of my life. Amen.
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 2 Corinthians 2:14
The Fall season is by far my favorite time of year. While I love the beauty of the colorful leaves, the best part is the smells of the fall season. The musty-ness of the leaves, the crispness of the air around me and the aroma of a distant campfire. Nothing is better!
There are several places in the Bible where we, as Christ-followers, are referred to as a fragrant aroma to our Heavenly Father. I think of that often as I sit by a campfire and smell the sweet aroma of burning wood, or when I smell the air after a spring rain. Fresh. Alive. Soothing. And to think that God feels that way about me!
Because of Jesus, God looks upon us a trophy. Like a victorious warrior He holds us high as a prized possession. We are His and victory smells sweet! Ever notice how the aroma flowers permeates the whole house? The Apostle Paul alludes to that idea in 2 Corinthians 2:14. The aroma of our lives spreads out to those around us.
Don’t allow the things you are going through keep you from remembering how God sees you. He looks at you and smiles. He takes a deep breath and savors the aroma of your life. He watches you with admiration. He longs to draw you closer to Him. The closer we walk with God the stronger we will become and the more others will see the love of Jesus in us. We not only become a fragrant aroma to God, we become a fragrant aroma to those around us as well.
PRAYER: Father God. I’m in awe as I think that I am a fragrant aroma to you. I thank you for the victory I can have through Jesus. Help me to see myself as you see me. Empower me to turn over the areas of my life that keep me from being a fragrant aroma to those around me. May the aroma of Jesus’ love permeate me and spread out to those around me. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 