How is God honored in us? How do we find happiness in Him? By knowing and making known Jesus. God the Father desires that we have a relationship with Him that is made possible through God the Son. To know Him means personally, intimately, experientially walking with Jesus by following Him in faith to experience the incredible blessings and benefits of knowing Him and belonging to Him. This shared life with Jesus is a spiritual journey referred to as a “walk” in which we take one step at a time together with Him. The closer we are to Him, the more we will find real happiness in Him, and He will be honored through us. Therefore, this is our focus: We follow Jesus. We help others follow Jesus.
God Will Provide
God is actively working behind-the-scenes for you right now to meet your needs in ways that you don’t see. You don’t have the answers; God does. You don’t know the next move; God does. You can’t see how it will work out; God does. Everything you really need will really be supplied. Not maybe. Not probably. Definitely. God will provide for every need. Not some of them. Not most of them. All of them, without exception. Right when you need it, not a second too late. Today, do the work that God has said is for you to do, and believe that He is doing the work that is not for you to do.
It’s All About Jesus
It’s easy to be mistaken about this. It’s easy to assume this. It’s easy to believe this. It’s easy to want this. It’s easy to live like this. What is this? The idea that your life is about you. It’s not. It’s all about Jesus. Today is a good day to be reminded that you and I should… Exalt Jesus. Proclaim Jesus. Model Jesus. Know Jesus. Serve Jesus. Praise Jesus. Believe Jesus. Seek Jesus. Adore Jesus. Please Jesus. Magnify Jesus. Worship Jesus. Defend Jesus. Treasure Jesus. Follow Jesus. Trust Jesus. Enjoy Jesus. Obey Jesus. Love Jesus. As Christians, everything about our lives is because of Jesus and should be used for Jesus.
This Life Is Not All There Is
It’s the cause for the fear of missing out, the fear of sacrificial service and the fear of death. It’s the reason so many strive to build their own kingdoms instead of the kingdom of God. It’s the basis for the never-ending search for happiness by looking to the world instead of looking to Jesus to find happiness that is never-ending. What is it? Living as if this life is all there is. How we think, feel, speak, and act is wonderfully different when we see things in light of eternity. Rather than letting the temporary pain and pleasure of this world control us, let us remember that for Christians, the best is always ahead in the world to come.
Trusting Leads To Transformation
If trusting in Jesus is the basis for our hope of eternal life in heaven, then how can we know that we really trust Him? The short answer is: we look for evidences that the trust we have in Him is changing us. Genuine saving belief never leaves you the same. We gradually become less like the world and more like Jesus as we follow Him in faith. Trusting Him leads to ongoing and loving… Repentance, because we believe what He offers is better than what sin offers. Obedience, because we believe His ways are always best. Confidence, because we believe what He has promised us. We believe. We change. That’s how we know.
Trying Or Trusting
If you hope to go to heaven when you die, you are basing that hope on one of two things: trying or trusting. You may be trying to be a good person or trying to practice a religion. Neither of those things will get you into heaven because it’s your sin that separates you from God and keeps you from entering His presence. No amount of trying hard to do good and right things will remove that sin and replace it with righteousness. The Christian faith is not about trusting in our own good works or even trusting that Jesus died for us plus our good works; it is about trusting that Jesus lived and died for us. Jesus + Nothing = Everything. We pin our hopes on this: He exchanged His perfect life for our imperfect ones.
There Is An Order To Love
Love both sums up all of God’s commandments and gives us the motivation to obey them. But only when we love rightly. All the sins of all the people in all the world are the result of loving wrongly. Augustine described sin as “disordered love.” He noted that for our loves to be in proper order we should not… Love what it is wrong to love. Fail to love what should be loved. Love too much what should be loved less. Love too little what should be loved more. There is an order to love. We are to love God above people. Love people above things. And love things in such a way that they help us to better love God and love people.
Not Done Shining Yet
God will bring you through 100% of your dark days until He brings you home. He will not forget you a single moment. He will not forsake you a single time. He will not fail you a single day. Will it always be easy? No. Will it always be comfortable? No. Will it always be the way you want it? No. But it will always be under the careful, calculated and compassionate rule of a Father Who loves you and has a purpose for you. You are alive and breathing today because God made it so; God made it so because you were made to be a light in this dark world (Matthew 5:14-16), and you are not done shining yet.
Our Hope Is In This
Our hope is not in who sits in the Oval Office, but in Who sits on the throne in heaven. Our hope is not in who governs us on earth, but in Who reigns and rules over the entire universe. Our hope is not in what laws are passed, but in the One Who has written His law of love on our hearts. While politics, parties, programs and policies do have an impact upon our lives and our country, and we should take these things seriously, the optimism we have for everyday and eternal well-being does not rise and fall on one of us, but on Jesus, Who is God with us. This is where we pin our hope: Jesus governs our lives.
Your Prayer Life
Is your prayer life more about getting God to do your will or you to do His? I’ll be the first to admit that it’s much easier for me to pray about my preferences, priorities and plans than it is to say to my Heavenly Father, “nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.” Yet, there is nothing so freeing and fulfilling than to be right where God means for me to be doing right what God means for me to do. Prayer involves many things, but the most important thing is to request what we need to live for His Kingdom, not to secure what we need to build our own. Today, ask God to give what you need to do what He wants.
With Faith
There is often a tension between belief and doubt when things become difficult. It would be plausible to lose hope and lose heart when facing things that are too much for us to handle if we were forced to handle them alone. But Jesus has promised to never leave us alone, always supplying the grace we need for the needs we face. The more we trust in Him, the more we will rely on Him during the unexpected, uncertain and unpleasant difficulties of this broken world. He will work it out for good as we work out His purposes for us. With faith all things are not made easy. With faith all things are made possible.
God Is Worthy
God is worthy to be praised for Who He is, what He has already done for us, and what we are trusting Him to do for us in Christ. Every good thing that we have in our lives past, present and future is a gift of His grace. Even the things we think we worked hard to gain for ourselves are made possible by Him, for every ability and opportunity are given to us from Him. Therefore, let us celebrate Him before others and commend Him to others for all that He does for us, and that He delights to do so. Today… Honor Him for His blessings. Honor Him by enjoying His blessings as He intends. Honor Him for being a Blesser.
Real Peace
You will never experience real peace until you rest in God’s grace. Anything else results in some version of regret for your past, pressure to measure up in the present, or worry about what might happen to you in the future. Peace is elusive when we look to ourselves to make things right because there is always this ever-present feeling that we are not doing enough. Indeed, we cannot do enough. Nor do we need to, for Jesus has done it all. Resting in God’s grace means trusting that Jesus forgives, Jesus frees and Jesus is faithful to provide. Herein is peace found: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
An Honored God And Happy People (Part 1)
It’s a question that most of us ask at some point in our lives as we consider the purpose of our lives: why am I here? There is this hard-wired desire in each us to know the reason we were born and remain alive on this earth. You may state the conclusion differently than I do, but the words of my personal mission statement offer the basic meaning for why God gets us up each morning: “I exist to know Jesus and make Him known so that God is honored in us and we are happy in Him.” Starting with ourselves and spreading to our circles of influence, we are after one ultimate objective: an honored God and happy people.
Storms Never Have The Final Word
The clouds roll in like never before. The lightning flashes and the thunder roars. The wind blows and the rain pours. Chance of storm: 100%. Something bad is brewing. But, if you love Jesus, you can be sure that the hardships you experience are going to serve the high purposes of God. Chance of good from the storm: 100%. For Christians… Suffering is never pointless. Struggles are never without blessing. Storms never have the final word. Therefore, let us endure hardships in hope while we wait for Him to finish His good work, knowing it will be worth it in the end and someday He will bring all suffering to an end.
Fight By Grace
People who love Jesus repent by making war against their sin instead of making excuses for it. Because His pardon is given to us, and His power is with us, and His presence is in us, we can be honest about our sin, and we can be victorious over it. Therefore, let us strive for holy living while resting in the grace of God, remembering and rejoicing over this truth: what Jesus has done for us on the cross is sufficient to both cleanse and correct our transgressions. Because of grace we don’t give up in our fight against our sinfulness; by grace we get up and fight on.
Forgiven And Free
Every person alive disobeys God, but the ways in which we respond to our sin is often in stark contrast with each other. Some people rationalize. Some people repent. As Christians, we have a faith in Jesus that is demonstrated by loving obedience, though imperfectly executed. That means we too will disobey God at times, but because of the love we receive from Him and have for Him, we will admit our sin by seeking His pardon for it and His power to be free from it.
Depend On Him
We were not made to be self-reliant, self-sustaining or self-sovereigns. God created us to be dependent upon His gracious care and provision, turning to Him and trusting in Him, moment by moment for what we need. Our wisdom and willpower are inadequate for handling life, but His is infinite, and it is readily available to those who trust in Jesus. Don’t try to make it on your own. You were never meant to. When there is a mile-high mountain or a mountain of little stuff piled up a mile high that is too big for you to climb, perhaps God put it there as a gracious and loving reminder for you to depend on Him.
It Is Exhausting
One of the most exhausting things in all of life is trying to be in control of your life. Things simply will not always happen the way we want them to, and the more we try to force them to, the more worn out and weary we will become. But there is good news for frustrated control freaks like us: God rules and reigns over the cosmos for the good of His people. So… Step off the throne; that’s where He sits. Step out in faith; that’s where rest comes. Watch the frustration and exhaustion melt away when you operate by this truth: God is in control; we can stop trying to be.
Sons And Daughters
What comfort, what relief, what joy is ours that with God we do not have to pretend to be something we are not, because God is making us into what we are not yet. And there is absolutely no risk that He will walk away from those of us who have been gloriously saved into His family because of our faith in Jesus. For when He looks upon you and me, though He sees everything about us, what He sees most is a beloved son or daughter.
