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Yes, everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And everyone who knocks will have the door opened. Matthew 7:8 (NCV)
Do you remember when you were a little child as Christmas approached? Maybe your parents brought you to the local mall to ‘meet Santa’. The beamed proudly as you sat on some strange man’s lap and told him all the things you wanted for Christmas. Do you remember the disappointment when there was no pony under the tree? When you didn’t get the ball glove you told Santa about? By the way (side trip!), did you ever wonder why, if Santa knew when you were sleeping, when you were awake, and how well you behaved, he had to ask what you wanted for Christmas?
There’s a tendency in our human nature to think of God in the same way we grew up thinking about Santa Claus. He gives good gift if we are nice and bad gifts, or no gifts, if we are bad. Two things for you to remember. Santa Claus isn’t real (sorry for the disappointment so close to Christmas) and, secondly, God isn’t Santa Claus.
When Jesus talks about our relationship with the Heavenly Father he talks about commitment and endurance. Your Heavenly Father is committed to you. Period. In our world that’s hard to really comprehend. Sadly, fathers in our society are portrayed as bumbling idiots more intent on watching football than building relationships. Many of us men have lived up to that image.
I’ll say it again. Your Heavenly Father is like no other father you have ever known. You are his one priority. You are his pride and joy. Nothing else matters. So, when you are struggling with life ask. Not just once. Your Father is committed to you. Be committed to him. Don’t just ask once and forget about it. Persistent prayer, committed conversation with your Father helps you to see his feelings as well as evaluate your own.
Secondly, seek. Not occasional glances. Not hurried requests. To seek means you look deeply at every possible solution to find what how God wants to bless you. It’s too easy to pray once and figure if we don’t get what we want, God doesn’t care. Fact of the matter is, you may be asking him for a stone when he really wants to give you bread. You may be longing for a snake without realizing it when all the while he wants to give you a fish.
Unanswered prayer is really God’s way of telling us he has something better in mind. Grace teaches us to realize he will never let us down. Faith says we’ll trust his wisdom over our desires. It takes time. It takes commitment. It takes trust. God has all the time in the world. He’s totally committed to your well-being. All he asks is for your persistent trust.
PRAYER: Father, when I pray it’s so easy to be lured into the trap of thinking you are a vending machine god that gives according to what I put into our relationship. Help me to have the wisdom to seek your direction and the courage to follow it. Amen.
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 1 John 4:16 (NLT)
I like how Max Lucado describes God’s love in his book “The Eye of the Storm”.
“Water must be wet. A fire must be hot. You can’t take the wet out of water and still have water. You can’t take the heat out of fires and still have fire. In the same way, you can’t take the love out of [‘God’]…and still have him exist. For he was…and is…Love.”
God is our ultimate example of what love is. How we view love is how we view God. How we define God is ultimately how we define love.
If God is truly love, how does he respond to those who struggle with addiction? If God is love how does he respond to someone in an adulterous relationship? If God is love how does he respond to you during those times you are feeling lonely, depressed, overwhelmed or frustrated?
We need only look at Jesus to know that answers to that question. Jesus said, if you what to see what the father looks like, look at me. See how I treat people who reject me. See how I treat people caught in the trap of sin, of abandonment, of disease. See me. See God. See love.
There are some who prefer to see God’s love in the light of his wrath. They live their lives in fear of what God will do. They pattern their lives according to the world’s standard of love, a standard that says, “My love for you is based on your performance. If you do as I say, I’ll love you. If you don’t meet my expectations, my love for you will die”.
That’s not Gods love. God’s love for you says that even though you aren’t the richest, or the most beautiful, or the strongest. I love you. Even though you struggle with life, can’t be trusted, put things off far too long and too often. I love you. Even though you may be going through the consequences of poor decisions, even that doesn’t take away the fact that God loves you more than ever.
Don’t allow the worlds view of God’s love to take away from the facts about God’s love. God’s love doesn’t spew hatred for anyone. God’s love doesn’t dwell on fear. God’s love doesn’t seek revenge. God’s love seeks what is best for you. Our human form of love can die, but God’s love will never die. You can trust him to always be there for you regardless of how bad life gets.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m so undeserving of so great a love. It’s so hard to fathom what your love is like because we humans have diluted it so much with performance, fear and demands. Empower me to live in the light of your love without distraction from the world. Amen.
To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations. Revelation 2:26
We live in difficult times. Everyday there are new warnings about the upcoming econimic disaster. Political conflict is on the rise with nation after nation being forced into warfare that kills babies, mothers, children. There seems to be no end in sight. While medical science has learned how to cure or treat many diseases, it seems like new ones with deadly results are turning up. And if that isn’t enough, starvation and homelessness in some countries, including the U. S., has reached epidemic proportions.
WOW! Still with me? What a downer. And in all that list I didn’t even mention the struggles we go through personally, on a daily basis with our relationships, health and finances.
But believe it or not, this post isn’t about defeat. It’s about victory. It’s interesting that when the Apostle John penned the above words in Revelation he was just begining on a journey in which God would show him absolutely horrific things. Events in the future he couldn’t understand, but that must have torn him apart. But the first section of his ‘revelation’ don’t talk about defeat, they talk about victory, about overcoming.
During these difficult times it’s easy to think about ‘what I’d do if I was in charge’ or ‘the government needs to do this, or do that in order to solve this dilemma. The harsh reality is, our time on earth isn’t intended to be a pleasant walk in the park. This weekend I’m writing from Northern Minnesota. It’s been one of the most pleasant mid-October Weekends I can remember. We walked through beautiful forests and beside crystal clear lakes. As I walked I thought how nice it would be if everyday were like this. But the reality is, in a matter of hours I’ll be ‘back to reality’.
Our journey may be difficult. Sometimes the struggles we bear are our own doing. Sometimes they are the result of abuse or the evil actions of someone else. Sometimes they are the result of decisions we thought wise in the past that ended up taking us down the wrong course.
The lesson from Revelation is this. Times will (not might) be tough while we walk this journey on earth, but for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, better days lie ahead. Jesus pleads with us to be overcomers here so that once we reach eternity we will be rulers of nations. Now, I don’t know what that means exactly but it sounds pretty cool to me.
So today I will try to overcome the obstacles ahead of me for this day. I won’t worry about the future because my Father will give me strength for whatever lies ahead. I won’t regret the past, because the sins of my past are forgiven and the scars will remind me that Jesus healed me. I will rely on the Holy Spirit of God to guide me through the turmoil I know lies ahead.
Our Father doesn’t ask us to do anything more than to do his will. That will is summed up nicely by Jesus earlier in another one of John’s writings. Love God. Love myself. Love my nieghbors.
(Besides, I read the back of the book. We Win!)
PRAYER: Father. I’m tired. I’m worried about the future and angry about the mistakes of my past. I resolve today to be an overcomer because of your Holy Spirit living in me. Amen.
Jesus is the only One who can save people. No one else in the world is able to save us.” Acts 4:12 (NCV)
There is, within each of us a desire to believe in something greater than ourselves. Something more powerful. More passionate and loving. Something that can take us from where we are and bring us to new levels of freedom, hope and peace.
The world is full of answers. Full of people and systems that urge us to follow their way and buy into their system of beliefs. It doesn’t take long to realize that all of that comes with a cost. It could be our lives. It could be money. In most all cases it requires that we ‘do something’ to prove our worthiness.
The enemy’s game plan is to burden us down with rules and regulations. He is fully aware that Jesus came to give us freedom. His goal is to make sure that we never experience the freedom purchased for us on the cross.
He’s also aware of our desire to believe. It may come a surprise to many, but Satan is a great fan of religion and he wants each of us to hold strongly to religion. His personal favorite is atheism by the way, but he’ll settle for any of the other ones. The important thing is that you realize that salvation comes at a cost and if you are going to be saved you must follow the rules.
Religion is a monster whose hunger will never be filled by human activity. The demands are too steep and we are too weak. We fail. We try again. We fail again. We lost heart. We stop trying or try a different religion or relationship. The end result is that we sink into this pit of despair that says “It’s no use. There’s no hope. I simply can’t do it.” We lose. Satan wins.
Jesus didn’t come to earth to burden us with rules and regulations. His purpose for being here is to bring us freedom. He didn’t come to condemn us (John 3:17) he came to give us freedom (Galatians 5:1).
The battle for our faith tells us that we have to perform to be spiritual. The Bible tells us otherwise. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast”.
There is nothing you can DO to be a good Christian. All the things we measure our ‘spirituality’ by (going to church, reading the Bible, praying, etc) aren’t supposed to be duties to make us better Christians. They are activities that deep our relationship with Jesus. He purchased our salvation on the cross. He sealed our eternal fate in his resurrection. He doesn’t ask for our actions. He only asks for our heart.
Satan would have you believe that you must do something to be spiritual. Jesus only asks that you take his free gift and live in freedom.
The Truth Statement in the battle for our faith is: Our spirituality is based on relationship not rules.
PRAYER: Father God, it’s so easy to get caught up in ‘doing’ and not resting in the fact that my spiritual life rests in relationship and not activity. The enemy is constantly reminding me of my failures and shortcomings in order to keep me in bondage. Forgive me for listening to him. Today I will live in the truth that my walk with you rests on relationship not rules. Thank you. Amen.
You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. Job 42:3 (NLT)
The story of Job has always been one full of questions. One is often left with the question of ‘Why?’ Why would God allow Satan to have such free reign over so devout man of God? Why would God allow someone as righteous as Job to go through the emotional pain of losing his family, or the physical pain of illness, or complete financial loss? Job’s so-called friends are of no help. They do nothing to encourage him other than regurgitating the answers religion teaches us. If things are going will you are living right. If things are going poorly it must be due to your disobedience and sin. If on the other hand you want to prosper you must obey.
To Job’s credit he doesn’t buy into the lines of established religious thought. To the very end he maintains his innocence. He’s done all the right things. He’s been a man of integrity that no one other than Christ himself has emulated. We seek recommendations from people to show our expertise. Job’s recommendation came from God himself. Nowhere in all the earth is there a man like Job. Can’t argue with those credentials.
If there was one ‘fault’ in Job’s reasoning it was his questioning of God’s actions. You can’t blame the man. He was in deep physical pain. He was being falsely accused. He’d lost his family. Can you imagine being in so much physical pain you can’t even mourn the passing of all your children? Add to that the rejection of your wife and your friends? Job can. And he confronts the God of heaven about it.
God finally shows himself to God. While God is always the underlying theme of Scripture, when he shows himself things happen. Abraham hid his face. Moses shielded his eyes. Isaiah fell to his knees. It was no different for Job. When God showed up all of Job’s suffering and pain seemed to disappear. God became his focus. When God becomes the focus in the midst of trial everything changes!
We don’t always understand why God allows things to happen as he does. During those times we need to rely on his heart. We may not always understand God’s actions but we can always trust him to do what needs to be done. Rely on his promises. Remember that He loves you. In reality God doesn’t owe you anything. Why he does what he does isn’t any of your business and, as Job came to realize, and you couldn’t understand it anyway!
Throughout history God’s actions have been questioned, but in the end his way has always proven to be the best way.
PRAYER: Father God I confess that I don’t always understand your ways. There are times I’m afraid. Times I worry. Times I get angry at you or at the things happening around me. Life doesn’t seem fair sometimes. I ask that you would empower me by your Spirit to trust you in the darkest times of my life. Help me to trust even when I don’t understand. In Jesus name, Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 