Today I'm embracing all the demands and difficulties of my day with this comforting statement of truth: all my needs have been met in Jesus.

Read More

Afflictions, Comfort, and Hope

I love the honesty with which the Apostle Paul describes his ministry life.

" For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us..." (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)

Yes, even the apostle Paul felt burdened excessively, His afflictions were greater than the strength that he had to deal with them, he felt despair, and even felt as if his troubles had landed him on death row! But by Paul's own testimony it accomplished a great purpose: he learned NOT TO TRUST IN HIMSELF, BUT IN GOD, who is so mighty and powerful that He can even raise the dead!

He prefaced this description of his difficult life with an exclamation of praise for the comfort that Christ gave him in all of his troubles. (verses 3-7) He endured a lot of them. He suffered greatly for the cause of Christ, yet he says that the amount of comfort he received in all his troubles was greater. Abundant suffering was countered with abundant comfort. And he came through it with a heart that was still hopeful, not cynical, looking to Christ, the author and perfecter of his faith, and the One worthy of love and worship and service. That's where I want to be today and everyday. Christ is still on His throne. He is still building His Church. He loves us. He intercedes for us. He reigns over the entire world that He created, and we belong to Him. That gives me great hope. Praying that all of us would live moment to moment with this kind of hope in the Lord Jesus.

Read More

I Will Go Because Christ Is Worthy

To those of you Christians who find yourselves in a place that is not what you had hoped it would be, in a ministry where you are experiencing conflict or are misunderstood or judged, or are simply worn out from the exhaustion that is part of pouring your life out in service, re-focus your eyes on the worthy Lord Jesus Christ.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, FIXING OUR EYES ON JESUS, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  (Hebrews 12:1-3)

He deserves all the sacrifices that you have made to serve Him and live for Him.  Who He is and what He has done makes Him completely worthy of the life you are giving away for the sake of His Name and to see His kingdom go forth. There are days when I have to remind myself of His worth, and it is usually when "I will serve You, Lord" sounds much more appealing than the reality of "I will serve the difficult people that You place in my life."  But when I retrace my steps to the cross, I remember that I was the sinner from whom He endured hostility.  Yet, He welcomed me as a friend, He gave His life so that the guilt and shame of my sin could be wiped away, and I could be treated by the Father as a righteous child.  I deserved nothing but I have been given Jesus.  That realigns my thinking, and is helping me sing the words to this Starfield song today with a joyful and grateful heart:

"I Will Go"

To the desperate eyes and reaching hands
To the suffering and the lean
To the ones the world has cast aside
Where you want me I will be

[Chorus:]
I will go, I will go
I will go, Lord send me
To the world, To the lost
To the poor and hungry
Take everything I am
I'm clay within your hands
I will go, I will go, send me

Let me not be blind with privilege
Give me eyes to see the pain
Let the blessing You've poured out on me
Not be spent on me in vain
Let this life be used for change

[Chorus]

I wanna live for you
Go where you lead me
I wanna follow you

*************

Christ is worthy!

Read More

Count It All Loss

"If when you become a Christian you write a big red “LOSS” across all the things in the world except Christ, then when Christ calls you to forfeit some of those things, it is not strange or unexpected. The pain and the sorrow may be great. The tears may be many, as they were for Jesus in Gethsemane. But we will be prepared. We will know that the value of Christ surpasses all the things the world can offer and that in losing them we gain more of Christ."               -John Piper

Read More

Behold The Lamb

My daughter and friend sang this song during Communion yesterday, and every time I hear it, I am drawn to worship Christ for all He has done for me.
Click here to hear it at the Getty's website.

Read More

Thank You, Jesus!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day.  I am thankful to God for so many things!  He has blessed my life in a million ways, and my heart is so full of praise!

The foundation of all my thanksgiving is what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me.  His atoning death satisfied the penalty that my sins had earned for me before a holy, righteous God. But the payment made by Jesus was fully accepted by God the Father. As if that were not enough, Christ not only paid for my sins, but He also forgave me for all of them, and then further adopted me into the family of God with all the rights, privileges, and inheritance of a true child.  I deserved only His wrath, but I was given His mercy because of Jesus' sacrifice. It was the precious blood that He gladly shed on my behalf that has purchased all of this for me!  I am His and He is mine!  This is everything.  It is why I live, it sustains me through each day, and the mystery and miracle of it will cause me to rejoice throughout eternity.

My gratefulness to God is best expressed by my favorite song from Sovereign Grace Music...

Jesus Thank You


The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend
The agonies of Calvary
You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son
Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me

Your blood has washed away my sin
Jesus, thank You
The Father’s wrath completely satisfied
Jesus, thank You
Once Your enemy, now seated at Your table
Jesus, thank You

By Your perfect sacrifice I’ve been brought near
Your enemy You’ve made Your friend
Pouring out the riches of Your glorious grace
Your mercy and Your kindness know no end

Lover of my soul
I want to live for You

Read More

Thankful for Hope and Perspective

Scrolling my Facebook newsfeed for the last three days has shown me that many Christians are suffering from post-election fear and anxiety. The outcome of Tuesday's vote has caused me, too, to have moments of concern about the future of our country, what changes may be ahead, and how those changes may affect daily life as we know it now.  

Fear has caused many people to jump from "lost election" to imagining worst case scenarios.  But, what if our very worst fears materialize? What if we do lose the "rights" and freedoms that we have all enjoyed for our entire lifetime of living in a country like America?  What if our economic situation continues to worsen and collapses altogether? What if persecution comes, and Christians begin to suffer publicly in our country for worshipping Christ and holding to the truth of the Bible?

Many people have questions now about the future, but for me, the best thing that resulted from the events of the week is another question that keeps rising to the front of my mind. 

Where is your hope?

A very timely study on the sovereignty of God in our home fellowship group this past Tuesday night reminded me of the great, comforting truths upon which every Christian must fix his hope, especially when tempted to worry or fear.

God is sovereign.  That means that He is completely in control. He is the King of the universe and He is still reigning above the affairs of this world. He is doing something great, and He is not done yet!  His plan has not been thwarted, and though it may not seem like it on particular days, His agenda is being carried out exactly as He has planned it. He will win. His righteousness will one day prevail.  He is God; after all, He created everything, and it will all ultimately result in bringing glory and worship to Him.

Isaiah 46:9-11:
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it."

This is our God, and all our hope is in Him!

God is good, He loves His people, and promises always to do what is best for us. He will meet our needs. He will sustain us through difficult times (and prosperity) by His grace and perfect provision. We can completely trust Him, and find peace, yes even joy, in all He is to us and for us. He has proven His great unfailing love for us by giving us the greatest gift possible: Jesus.  Our sins against a holy God have been wiped away by Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross.  What more could we possibly need to be happy in this life and for eternity?

Matthew 6:25-30:
“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?  And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,  yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!"
Romans 8:32:
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

God wants us to be on board with His plan. What God is doing on this earth may or may not include the prosperity and religious freedom of the United States of America. He is doing something far grander and more glorious than blessing our country, and allowing us to enjoy a life of ease and wealth. The Bible tells us that God sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world to save sinners. The sum of the whole message of the Bible is that God is reconciling sinful man to Himself through the one way that He provided, the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus. We can not afford to be distracted from that by anything that happens in a day.  We must keep that big picture in mind, and with greater fervency than ever give ourselves to being part of what God is doing on this earth.  Christ has left His people here to be compassionately and lovingly evangelizing the lost and equipping the church to live for Him and be salt and light to a dark world. It would be a huge mistake to allow political differences to make us view our unbelieving friends and neighbors as "the enemy".   There is an enemy who has blinded their eyes to the glory and worth of Jesus Christ, and we must love them and speak truth into their lives with the hope that God will continue to deliver and save sinners, just as He has done for us.  We should say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20: 

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Are we making our lives count toward God's plan and goal for His people?

God wants us to gain perspective.  It is comforting and challenging and convicting all at the same time to think about the lives of believers who have gone before us.  What about the apostle Paul, who suffered incredible persecution and loss during his life (see the long list in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29), yet wrote from a jail cell exhorting us to fix our eyes on Jesus, fight the good fight of faith, and rejoice always in the Lord? His difficult circumstances under the appointed governing authorities did not keep Him from living a passionate, useful, world-impacting life for His Savior.  He never enjoyed the prosperity, religious freedom, and comforts that we have become accustomed to in America. Yet, he says, "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." (Philippians 3:8)

We have a great God. We have these truths to stabilize our hearts, and I am extremely thankful for the hope and perspective they bring.

Read More