Do You Know What I Do?
Do you know what I do when I don’t know what to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I need strength to do what I have been led to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I experience difficult people or problems as I’m doing what I’m supposed to do? I pray. Do you know what I do when I grow weary doing the right things? I pray. Do you what I do when I get distracted by temptations to do wrong things? I pray. Do you know what I do when things don’t work out how I thought they would as I’m doing what I should? I pray. Do you know what I do when I have done what I was given to do? I pray. God’s answers to prayer include wisdom, strength, help, endurance, freedom, hope and thanksgiving. Prayer changes things; and it begins by changing us.
Benevolent King Jesus … He’s Way Bette …
Jesus is our Savior and our Lord. Jesus blesses us and commands us. Jesus wants us to be happy and holy. Jesus shows us compassion and correction. Jesus leads us to pleasant spaces and hard places. Jesus loves sinners and hates sin. Genuine, growing Christians take Jesus for Who He is and not Who others try to make Him out to be. Jesus is not a loving, gracious Friend and Enabler Who is there to help us live in whatever way we choose. He is the One Who gives us strength to do all the wonderful, beautiful, purposeful things He Himself has planned for us. Butler Jesus does not exist; Benevolent King Jesus does. And He’s way better.
Grace Always Wins In The End
God loves us, but He doesn’t approve of everything we think, say and do. God took our sin seriously enough to put His Son Jesus to death in our place; we should take our sin seriously by fighting against it instead of trivializing it, rationalizing it or fraternizing with it. Let us feel godly sorrow for our sin, but may that conviction give way to celebration of the forgiveness and freedom that is ours because of Jesus. Grace means there is pardon for our sin and power not to sin. We fight against it, we fail in the battle, we fall into mercy, we fight on, we finish. For those who are trusting in Jesus… Grace always wins in the end.
God Does Care
Satan is a liar. And there is one lie he both whispers and shouts that is the fountainhead from which ten thousand other lies spring forth: God. Doesn’t. Care. He wants you to believe… God doesn’t care about your sin, your struggles, your service or your sorrows. Mainly, the enemy wants you to believe that God doesn’t care about your life. But Satan is the one who doesn’t care about you! God showed His care by sending Jesus to defeat sin, turn struggles around for good, make service meaningful and replace sorrows with rejoicing. All around you are shouts and whispers from God proclaiming one wellspring of truth: “I care.”
It May Be Too Much For You To Handle
God is able to carry the heaviest burden you will ever face and carry you to the other side by His grace. There is no weapon too powerful. There is no mountain too big. There is no task too great. There is no situation too hopeless. There is no adversary too insurmountable. Not. For. Him. Whatever you are struggling with… God will get you over it, under it, around it, through it, or away from it some way until the day comes when every obstacle has been permanently removed. Rest in this today as you trust the day to God: It may be too much for you to handle, but it’s never too much for Him.
God Is Doing Much More
For those who are trusting in Jesus, God is always doing much more in us, for us, around us, and through us than we are aware of. All we see is the show, but He is working behind the scenes. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows. And when we can’t see it with our eyes, let us believe it in our hearts. That’s what faith is for.
Who Can We Believe?
It is hard to know who is telling us the whole truth, withholding the truth, distorting the truth, misinterpreting the truth, or creating their own version of the truth. We can easily be deceived into thinking something is true when it is not. So, who can we count on to be honest with us with what we need to hear? What is the standard by which we can evaluate all other guiding life principles and philosophies? What truth can we live by so we do not live in vain or error? Who can we believe? Jesus. Jesus is Who we can believe. We can always count on what He says to be true for us and good for us.
He’s Happy With His Choice
God didn’t reluctantly choose you because there was an empty space in His family tree, and He was down to His last option in you. He readily chose you because that spot in His family was reserved especially for you. He doesn’t regret it for a moment, even in those moments when you feel like He does because you have fallen short and failed Him. Because of the moment you put your faith in Jesus… He delights in you. He rejoices over you. He is pleased with you. Whether you stand by His grace and get it right, or fall into His mercy when you get it wrong, you were chosen by God to be with God. And He’s happy with His choice.
A Desire To Be Different
An evidence that you are a genuine, growing Christian is that you want to be freed from your sin, not just forgiven of it. It’s not just escape from the penalty and consequences of sin that you desire, but escape from the power and control of sin as well. Those who love Jesus will inevitably and increasingly hate their sin. We are not perfect, but we want to be. We will fail, but we wish we wouldn’t. We like some wrong things, but we long for change. Jesus will soon fully deliver us from the brokenness, but until then, let us pray for Him to progressively replace our taste for sin with new appetites for the better things He has for us.
The Fountain Of Grace We Are Drinking From
When we remember and rejoice in Jesus’ removal of our own condemnation, we will stop condemning the people around us. For those of us who have received His priceless gift of salvation, there is no condemnation for our sins, though we were rightly deserving of that condemnation. By the lavish grace of God, we are pardoned. Guilty, yet set free. Flawed, yet forgiven. Outsiders, yet welcomed in. Enemies, yet made family. Deserving of hell, yet shown mercy. Wages of death earned, yet eternal life freely given. Instead of condemning others, let us point them to the fountain of grace that we ourselves are drinking from.
