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I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NLT)
He spoke in generalities. He didn’t give dates and times. He certainly didn’t rescue us from it. He gave us a promise though…peace during it and victory after it!
Try to imagine the emotion as the disciples listened to Jesus’ teaching on the future. He didn’t mince words. He told us there would be natural catastrophe’s that would boggle our minds. We warned us that relationships would fail. We’d have to endure the pain of being let down by people we thought loved us. We’d be misunderstood, falsely accused, mocked, and even physically harmed. We’d endure the agony of waiting in the doctors office as they worked on a loved on in the next room. We’d pace the floor at home waiting for the phone to ring with the doctor’s test results. We’d stand helplessly by the graveside of a child who ‘died far too early in life’.
When you think about it, sometimes life just sucks! Sure there’s the beauty of the sunrise or sunset. There’s the majesty of mountain grandeur and fall colors. The silence and purity of new fallen snow; the awesome miracle of a new life. But even with all the good of life there’s just so much pain. Sometimes all the tragedy and pain in life makes one wonder if God really does know what’s going on.
Whatever you are going through right now. Whether it is financial disaster, worry, suffering the consequences of your own stupid decisions, the pain of relationships gone bad or watching a loved one be destroyed by the effects of cancer, or whatever else is pulling you down. Remember this. Jesus told us there’d be trouble ahead. While we are in this world we can really expect no less than that. None of this should really be a surprise. We were warned over 2000 years ago. But don’t miss the ‘pearl in the slime’. “I have told you so you will have peace…I have overcome the world.”
That’s it! That’s the nugget we can hold on to, the life preserver in the midst of the ocean, the high ground in the midst of the flood. Jesus knows…He’s overcome the world. Peace of mind will never come to us in life if we base our peace of mind on world events and our own accomplishments. Peace of mind will only come when we base all we have on the overcoming power of Jesus Christ in our lives. He alone is our stronghold.
PRAYER: Father God. I’m in awe at the amount of relational, natural and political pain I see in this world. Somehow it’s a little easier to bear when I remember you warned us about all this. Empower me with your spirit to rest in the peace I can have in you. Protect me from worry and fear. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
I watched a TV show the other night about people who were, as the show called them, ‘hoarders’. The homes these people lived in were stacked floor to ceiling with stuff. Some of it was good stuff. Some was junk. Some was garbage and dirt. Barely a path through the homes. It was incredible to watch.
In each story there was some similarity. The residents didn’t’ start out with the intention of being hoarders. I happened over a period of time, sometimes years. There were good reasons as well. Death in the family, broken relationships and/or loss of control all began to ‘pile up’. In the life of each hoarder was a story of the inability to cope with something in life and gradually letting things go until they were out of hand. Some never recovered.
Sin and failure in our lives can be like that. We make on mistake and then another. The guilt starts to pile up. We begin to get weary of the clutter in our lives but too tired or overwhelmed to deal with it.
Jesus doesn’t believe in hoarding! He wants you to be clean, fresh and alive. You don’t need to allow the failures and mistakes of your life to pile up to the point where you can no longer cope. You don’t need to bear the weight of guilt, shame and remorse that holds you back from freedom offered through grace.
Take you struggles to him often. He doesn’t promise to forgive us ‘some day’. He promises to do it right now. Every speck of dust. Every spot or stain. There is nothing you can’t bring to him. It doesn’t matter if it is a choice you made intentionally or an error you made without thinking. He wants to take it all away. He promises to cleanse us from all sin always.
Don’t be a hoarder. Get rid of that load you are carrying right now. He is there and willing to clean house for you!
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I’ve been carrying this load of guilt and remorse for far too long now. I am claiming your promise to clean my life up. Take this load of guilt and remove it from me forever for your name sake. Amen.
“for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4
What gives you victory in life? At the end of the day, when you look over the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory, what do you attribute to the gold medal hanging around your neck?
For some people it might be that you finally made it a whole day without a cigarette (or a whole week or month or some other milestone). Others may mark it as a victory because even though the words were on the ‘tip of the tongue’ no foul language made it through the lips. Maybe you were actually at the computer and resisted the temptation to visit ‘the sites’. Perhaps you bask in the glory of the fact that you didn’t kill your teenager with words.
We all like victory over some of the bad habits we struggle with daily. Unfortunately those victories can be few and far between. Rather than putting notches in our belts for ‘making it through another day’ we sigh and wonder if we’ll ever be able to break that habit. Seems like the more we fail the harder it is to pick ourselves up, brush the dust from our clothes and move on. “Why try, really? You just know you are going to fail again. And, where is God in all this.”
You look to heaven, maybe even shake your fist and say (sometimes even audibly), “Where were you. I thought you were going to help me? I thought you loved me. I thought you’d never leave me. I thought…”
It might seem strange to you. It might be hard to understand, but God uses the struggles in our lives to make us stronger. He doesn’t enjoy seeing us fail any more than we do. Yet he knows, in all his wisdom, that today’s failures make us stronger for tomorrow’s crisis. It might be that God refuses to remove the habit we struggle with so we will rely on him more and us less.
The warrior overcomes his enemy be rendering him helpless. The athlete overcomes his enemy be defeating him in the arena. The Christ-follower overcomes the struggles in life by reliance on God and believing that someday victory will come, even if it comes through death.
Rather than focus on the battle, focus on the one who has already defeated the enemy. Rather than dwell on your failures, remember that Jesus knew the day he went to the cross that you would fail once again. He went anyway.
Today, just for today, dwell on the fact that God lives within you. He’s walking where you walk. Seeing what you see. Feeling the temptation and frustration and anger you feel. Hearing the critical words hurled at you like a nuclear missile. Be patient with others and more importantly yourself.
Do your best today as you go to battle. Try to rely on God’s Holy Spirit who dwells within you. The one who wants to guide your thoughts and your actions in every situation. Do what you know is right. And no matter what happens, remember that whatever you do, God will do what he does best—extend his grace in your life.
PRAYER: Father God, there are days when I feel like such a failure. If I were to look up failure in the dictionary I’m sure I’d see my picture right there. I try so hard and fail. I blame others. I blame myself. I even blame you from time to time. Help me, during the frustrating times of life when I’m tempted to go against what I know is right, to remember you are right here with me to help me. Thank you for the grace you extend when I fail. Help me to remember the failures of today build the strength for tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5
Let the last few words of the above verse sink in. ‘Never will I leave you. NEVER will I forsake you.’
Think for a moment about what that means for you on a daily basis. There is never a time that Jesus is not within hearing range when you need to talk about the things you are troubled by. Never a time in your daily walk that he is not willing to talk with you, comfort you, celebrate with you. There is nothing you can do to make him leave. Nothing you can say he’s surprised by. He’s always there.
Jesus is with you when the doctor tells you the test results. He’s with you as you tend to a sick child. He’s sitting beside you as you write out the bills and worry about where the money will come from.
Sometimes the thought of his presence is comforting. It’s such a relief to know he’s there when the car breaks down, the relationship goes in the tank, the company reorganizes and you don’t make the cut.
Sometimes we ignore his presence. Like the times our minds linger as we watch the cute young thing walks past. The times we willingly visit that site on the internet one more time. Those times when the anger and frustration of life get the best of us and we lash out at those we love the most. The times we lay awake with the enemy named worry by our side.
There are times when the pain is too much. The anxiety to great. The news is too horrific to hear he still, small voice reminding us of his great presence and power. But our awareness of God has nothing to do with the reality of his presence. Our own desires may take us places we never thought we’d go, but they don’t take us from his presence.
When we sin for example, we may feel that we’ve separated us from God, but that’s not true. The issues of life can separate us from SENSING God’s presence, but nothing separates us from the REALITY of God’s presence.
Whatever is troubling you today, whether it is something on a world-wide scale or something close to home; don’t allow the issues of your life to make you numb to his presence. God has promised that he will NEVER leave you or forsake you, and you can take that to the bank!
PRAYER: Father God, there are so many things of late that have distracted me from sensing your presence. So many times I’ve ignored you when life gets in the way. Please forgive me for not living in the reality that you are always by my side. Empower me with your Spirit to live in such a way that your presence will continually guide my thoughts, words and actions. In your name I pray, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 