Journey to Gratefulness Day 5: Draw Near

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you {James 4:8 NASB}.

Some days are hard. Today may have been for you. It was for me. It’s okay to have a hard day every now and then. Somedays it seems as though the world is passing us by; like everyone else has a plan, a dream, goals. Sometimes it seems like we just are stuck waiting. In the waiting, seek God. He uses these seasons so that we will turn to Him. He will not have us wait forever. Advent is certain. Not only on the calendar leading to Christmas; but when we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us {James 4:8}.

Ten things I am thankful for today:

1. Though it is hard, I am thankful for the times of waiting.

2. Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness in the waiting.

3. Thank You for drawing near to me.

4. Thank You for Your forgiveness.

5. Thank You for encouraging words from unlikely sources when I need to hear from You.

6. Thank You for helping me when I call.

7. Thank You for not giving up on me.

8. Thank You for Your unfailing love.

9. Thank You for Your unfailing mercy.

10. Thank You For Your grace; which empowers me when I can’t do it on my own.

“You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, Want us to wait. For the right time in which to discover Who we are, where we are to go, Who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you … for the waiting time.” John Bell, quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers, compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart

To read all the posts in this series click here

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog...

My book  A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

      

Journey to Gratefulness Day 4: Salvation Is Come

Thus says the Lord, “Preserve justice and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come

And My righteousness to be revealed” {Is. 56: 1 NASB}.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace {Isaiah 9:6 NASB}.

Grace. His grace is unfathomable. It is hard to grasp is it not? Imagine how Mary and Joseph felt. As the world slept; the Son of God became man; in all places a stable. They held Heaven’s perfect Lamb—the Great I AM. “Baby Jesus, Eternal Word of the One True and Living God.”[1] John, consciously building on Old Testament revelation in His wonderful Gospel, gave a glorious homily on Jesus—The Word—God Incarnate— who existed before time. He was not only with God, but was God. Yet He came as man to reconcile man to The Father. He came to offer salvation to a lost, dying world {John 1}. Christ. His Salvation. The greatest gift.

Ten things I am grateful for today:

1. How can I repay what the Lord has done for me? I will take the cup of Salvation and worship the Lord {Ps. 116:12-13 HCSB}.

2. The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation {Ps. 118:14 HCSB}.

3. I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and have become my salvation {Ps.  118: 21 HCSB}

4. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it {Ps. 118: 24 HCSB}.

5. Thankful that my help comes from the Lord. The maker of heaven and earth {Ps 121: 2 HCSB}.

6. That Gods love is eternal {Ps. 136 :3 HCSB}.

7. He alone does great wonders {Ps. 136 :4 HCSB}.
     
8. He made the heavens skillfully {Ps. 136 :5 HCSB}.

9. For Your constant love and faithfulness {Ps. 138: 2 HCSB}.

10. Your abundant greatness {Ps. 150: 2 HCSB}.

Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time. Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac

To read all the posts in this series click here

My book  A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

      

---

[1] Bodie and Brock Thoene, Why A Manger? (Vista, CA: Parable, 2006), 3.

Journey to Gratefulness Day 3: Prince of Peace

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace {Isaiah 9:6 NASB}.

Peace is one of the most sought-after conditions in this, our chaotic world. But are we seeking the right peace? There is peace that the world gives; which is futile. It is a peace that keeps you hungry and thirsty.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful {Jn. 14:27 NASB}.

The peace the world gives is concerned with only the body and time.[1]The peace that Christ gives are to enrich the soul; it is more valuable than anything the world has to offer. Christ is the Prince of Peace. He is the only one who can give lasting peace. It is one of the promises of His Messiahship; it was a sign that the babe born in Bethlehem was the promised Christ.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men {Luke 2:12-14 NASB}.

Ten things I am grateful for today:

1. The Peace the only Christ can give.

2. The Peace that is promised us for eternity when Christ—the Prince of Peace returns.

3. God Almighty, who is Faithful and True. He promised the Messiah and fulfilled that promise.

4. Thankful that God loved us so much, that He sent His Son to redeem us and reconcile us to the Father.

5. Thankful for the Christmas Story, to bring us Peace and joy each year.

6. Thankful for the Word that portrays the events of the birth of Christ.

7. Mary and Joseph who obeyed God, even when they faced horrific circumstances, to be an example for me when I face tough situations.

8. Thankful for the Incarnation; God became man and walked among us.

9. Thankful for the spiritual blessings that I don’t deserve, but am graced with regardless.

10. Thankful that I serve the Holy, beautiful, Wonderful, Great I AM. 

Christmas means that, through the Grace of God and the incarnation, peace with God is available; and if you make peace with God, then you can go out and make peace with everybody else. Tim Keller

To read all the posts in this series click here

---

[1] Leslie Church, ed., Matthew Henry’s Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960), 1593.

Journey to Gratefulness Day 2: Thrive

Have you every had one of those seasons when things—life—doesn’t seem to be working? You are striving and working hard for things to work out a certain way, and it’s not working at all. Christmas is a season in which all the busyness, chores, and shopping seem to interrupt the things that are truly important. Preparing our hearts for advent, cultivating our prayer life, developing a life in the Word. These are the important things that we should be focusing on. That is why I am so thankful for His grace; which gives me the strength to do what I cannot do in my own power. He wants us to stop striving and to begin thriving. We thrive when we spend time with Him and in His Word, and communicating with Him in prayer. Stop striving and start thriving.

Ten things I am grateful for today:

1. His grace that empowers and strengthens me.

2. His provision—He always takes care of me and my family; a roof over my head, a car to drive; food on the table.

3. His sovereignty—no matter how much I strive, He helps to thrive instead when I abide in Him and focus on the things that I need to.

4. His calling and His gifting on my life, though I feel inadequate, His gifts and calling are irrevocable (Rom. 11:29).

5. I am thankful for the Christmas season, that brings joy and anticipation in my heart for the things of God. This is a hard one for me.  

6. I am thankful for His Spirit who reveals to me habits and mindsets that I need to change.

7. I am thankful for a particular friend that the Lord graced me with years ago who faithfully prays for me.

8. I am thankful for an encouraging word at the right moment from someone I least expected to hear from.

9. I am thankful for another gift; someone who is praying and fasting for me until I see a breakthrough in my life, in obedience to His Spirit.

10. I am thankful for this cute little Christmas farmhouse that you see in the pictures. My sister brought it back from Texas for me, and when I see it, it makes me smile. 

God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but he does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for him; rather, his way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof. Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away: that is precisely where God loves to be. There he confounds the reason of the reasonable; there he aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where he wants to be, and no one can keep him from it. Only the humble believe him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that he does wonders where people despair, that he takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas

To read all the posts in this series click here

Sabbath Sanctuary: Holy Saturday

Yesterday, we remembered Christ and His crucifixion; His holy sacrifice for our filthiness and sin. Every sin I have committed, every idle word I have spoken, was nailed to the cross yesterday. I need only repent and apply His sacrifice to my life.  

As Good Friday passes, we look forward to Easter Sunday to celebrate the most significant event of all time—the Resurrection. Christ defeated death, hell, and the grave. He tasted death for us and overcame it. He holds the keys to hell; it is a celebration indeed!

Saturday seems to get lost in the holiday preparations. We return to the mundane life routine,  preparing food, doing the laundry, and preparing for worship on Sunday. But what about Saturday? Scripture, too, quickly passes over Saturday. There seems to be a void after the horrific crucifixion scene the previous day, and the celebration of an empty grave on Sunday. Matthew grants a glimpse into some of the events on Saturday; the Pharisees before Pilate, ensuring the grave is guarded, there will be no grave robbing this night!

Holy Saturday is a time of waiting, when nothing significant occurs. “The crucifixion, deliberately timed to precede the Sabbath day (which in John’s chronology was the Passover itself), was naturally followed by a pause when nothing would happen, and certainly no visit to the tomb by Mary and the others to anoint the body” (Alan Lewis, p.3).  Saturday is just an ordinary day, with Jesus' body seemingly lying in the cold, hard tomb, leaving all creation to groan for Him.

Though Jesus’ body may be entombed and lying on that cold, hard rock slab, there is much happening behind the scenes, taking place in the unseen heavens before His pierced, precious body is resurrected.

Jesus was not idle on Saturday; He was busy freeing the captives, declaring His victory over the devil and his minions. The prophet Hosea foretold this in Hosea 13:14: "Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight" {NASB}. And so too, the prophet Zechariah 9:11: "As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit" {NASB}.  Peter penned in 1 Peter 3:19-20a, "In which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient" {NASB}.

Paul also tells us in Ephesians 4:9, "What does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?"{NASB}. Jesus defeated death, hell, and the devil, and mocked them openly; "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him" {Colossians 2:15 NASB}.  

Sabbath Saturday seemed quiet; the dust was settling from the events and commotion of the traumatic events of Good Friday, and a quiet hush seemed to hold the city captive. It looked like everything was dead. Everything the disciples hoped for is gone—their dreams died and were buried with Jesus. They could not see all that Jesus was doing. He was overcoming death so that He could ascend to take His place at the Father's right hand. Christ presented Himself, the perfect sacrifice, and sprinkled His blood on the Heavenly Mercy Seat.

So rest this Sabbath, and know what Christ did for you in His death. Rest this Sabbath, Saturday—tomorrow is Resurrection!

Alan E. Lewis, Between Cross & Resurrection: A Theology Of Holy Saturday (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 3.  

Sabbath Sanctuary: The Path

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1: 1-45

Walk by Faith

There will come a time and there will come a day
You will face tests and trials but I have come to say
I will not let one of you go even when you stumble
I will protect you and cause your enemy to fumble

Though things may get hard I give My grace to you
So you can walk by faith and know just what to do
You will not smell like smoke when you stand in My Name
Those who hear My Word through you won’t be the same

So even if you can’t see all the way in front of you
Walk by faith and not by sight do as I would do
I will protect you and defend you when you do what is right
Take My grace and love with you and all of My power and might

Piper Green ©2004

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight {Proverbs 3:6}.

Rest in Him this Sabbath; He guides your every step...the steps of the righteous are ordered (see Psalm 37:23).

Don't forget to subscribe by email ✏

Great is Thy Faithfulness

God is faithful. He is faithful when we are not. He is faithful to provide His mercy to us when we need it. Like clockwork His mercies are new with the rising of the sun;

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

“How refreshing, then, how unspeakably blessed, to lift our eyes above this scene of ruin, and behold One who is faithful, faithful in all things, faithful at all times” (Pink, 1975, 52).

Know therefore that the Lord Thy God, He is God, the faithful God. Deut. 7:9

Prophecy:  

Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist. (Is. 11:5) 

His descendants shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before Me. It shall be established forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful. Selah. (Psalm 89:36-37)

Fulfillment: 

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. (1 Thess. 5:24)

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Tim. 2:13)

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood. (Rev. 1:5)

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.(Rev. 2:10)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. (Rev. 19:11)  

How faithful are you? I am the first to confess that I am checking my faithfulness level. Jesus said, “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 NASB). Abiding in God is the surest way to remain faithful. 

When you depend on God, when He is your oxygen, when you can’t breathe without Him, when you reach the point that you know you will die without Him, you are abiding in God. He will strengthen you and be the wind beneath your wings. Trust in God, know that He holds you in His hand. Rest in Him.

“Are we resting with implicit assurance on these words, ‘He is faithful that promised’ (Heb. 10:23).” (Pink, 53).

In His Grace,

***UPDATE***

I just came from hearing an amazing woman speak at our church tonight. Cindi McMenamin is an amazing author and speaker. She read Psalm 139 tonight, and though not in the same context as my above post, I wanted to recite God's beautiful Psalm through His anointed Psalter; 

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139: 7-12 NIV)

How beautiful is God’s faithfulness? You cannot run from Him; He will pursue you. When you try to turn away from Him; He will not give up or turn away. That is the measure of His faithfulness.