Expectation of Mercy

Psalm 42 is a great Psalm that depicts a deeply discouraged David struggling a bit to get his emotions under control.

You can see a pattern of it throughout the Psalm. He takes us through the reality of his heart breaking and being "deeply troubled." He even asks himself the question a couple times, "Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?"

And yet David knows a little secret... one I have been encouraging myself and others to adopt in our own lives. Because we can't wait around for someone else to encourage us - we must encourage ourselves in the Lord. We must strengthen ourselves.

And I believe we do this best when we can:

REMEMBER.

RECALL.

REPEAT.

We must REMEMBER what God has done.

RECALL it to our memory as often as we can.

And REPEAT it out loud to anyone and everyone who will listen.

It's so vital to our survival.

Our emotional health.

Our spiritual strength.

It's what David does here.

I love the Passion Translation that depicts his inward conversation this way, "Here I am depressed and downcast. YET I will still REMEMBER you as I ponder the place where Your glory streams down from the mighty mountaintops, lofty and majestic - the mountains of Your awesome presence." (verse 6)

YET I will still REMEMBER (emphasis mine.)

We must choose to see His goodness, and His mercy, and His grace today.

And if we find ourselves having a hard time discerning that, then it would benefit us greatly to REMEMBER what He has done in the past.

Declare the goodness in your life today.

And then don't stop talking about it.

There's just something about repeated testimony that stirs up and environment of hope and anticipation.

I love verse 6 in the Message version that says, in part, "When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of You."

Oh. So. Good.

It's why the study of sweet Jesus is so important!

Friends... He's so incredibly good. And while He meets you right where you are - mess and all - He's simply not content to leave you there.

Today I am strengthening myself in the Lord.

Today I am choosing to believe that He longs to be good.

Today I am remember His kindness.

Today I am recalling His love.

Today I am repeating His grace.

Today... I shall live with an expectation of mercy!

You too?

Seer Of All Things Lovely

I saw it there as I was aimlessly scrolling past. The image that stood out like a sore thumb. The once beautiful cabinet awaiting restoration. And I would write the words to her - the seer of all things lovely: “I always love seeing through the eyes of someone who sees ‘potential' in all things.” Because we live in a day and age where beauty is often forgotten. Where suspicion has been advanced to an art form. Where disgust is constantly highlighted. Where what nauseates has been highly esteemed, and where what’s “wrong” is paraded on display as trophies of defeat. We have somehow created a culture where we know more about what others are against than what they are for. And we’re perfectly okay to refer often to the imperfections and deficiencies in other people. Oh but I love seeing those who have an eye for all things worthy. Those who have a trained eye for seeing the beauty and splendor in it’s embryonic state. Because I think it’s how the Father sees. With eyes of compassion and filled with undeserving grace, He sees past the inadequacies… He sees beyond the blemishes. Instead of identifying flaws, He speaks to our potential. And He calls us into a life of freedom from identifiers the world labels as disqualifying credentials. Oh friend - He sees all that you CAN be… perhaps all that you ONCE were… and He says, “I will make you beautiful again! I will restore you! I will refurbish and repair and reestablish you!” Someone needs to hear this today: You are worthy! You are loved! You are seen for the One in who’s image you were created in the likeness of. It’s time to let the artist do His work in revitalizing and renewing!

I Am Undeserving Yet Worthy

One of the things that actually pains me when I hear it is the phrase, "You deserve that!"

And I hear it said (or written) a lot.

"You deserve happiness."

"You deserve to be treated better."

"You deserve that vacation."

The Apostle Paul speaks extremely soberly to the church in Ephesus when he says the words found in chapter 4, verse 1, "Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God."

Paul... the one who had been assigned a great privilege to issue commands to the churches in the name of Jesus Christ, here beseeches his hearers as a "prisoner of the Lord." A lowly position he humbly embraced for the sake of Kingdom advancement.

And I think it was because he understood something that many of us haven't yet adopted into our nature.

There is a distinct difference between the words "Deserving" and "Worthy."

Deserving is this, by definition = qualified for or having claim to reward because of one's actions, qualities or situations.

Worthy is this, by definition = Having adequate or great merit, character, or value; of commendable excellence; a person of worth, merit, or position.

I think the key words in both definitions are:

Deserving - "actions".

Worthy - "value."

One is based on my actions. What I have done.

One is based on my value. What price was paid for me.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for you NOT because you did anything to deserve it. Not because you were qualified. Not because of situational circumstances.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for you because you were of great VALUE to Him. Because He saw you and sees you as having commendable excellence and because you are a daughter or a son of the Most High. And because of the high value He places on your life, He calls you worthy.

Not deserving - as one who's actions have qualified you... but one who is worthy - as one who is valued and who's life is highly favored regardless of eligibility and accomplishments.

Grace is unmerited favor. It's God's overwhelming desire to treat you and I as if sin never happened.

And it is that grace that calls us to live a life "worthy" of the calling.

Notice this is a calling, not an order. We are called as sheep, not driven as oxen. Which means that while we live absent of demand, we have an amount of duty.

You and I have a responsibility to live as those who are worthy. To walk in freedom from sin. And to surrender all we are to the One who calls us into a great inheritance!

Let's erase the "deserved-ness" from our mindset, and begin living as worthy recipients of His undeserving, unending radical grace.

Come. Take. Learn.

I love Matthew 11 verses 28-30.

It's Jesus speaking and He says this, "Come to Me all who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." (NLT)

The Message version says this, "Come to Me. Get away with Me. Walk with Me and work with Me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unformed rhythms of grace." WOW!

And the Passion Translation says it like this, "Join your life with Mine. Learn My ways. You will discover that I'm gentle, humble, and easy to please."

Just wow.

God longs to bless us and use us effectively for service in His Kingdom, but what He desires more than anything else is that we would become more like His Son Jesus.

And we do this when we come to Him... take His yoke... and learn His ways.

As the smaller oxen, we have the great privilege of being yoked to the larger one, Jesus. He has harnessed Himself to us that our load might be made lighter by His weight bearing capacity.

Our burdens are made lighter when we consistently come to Him for strength... when we learn to take our yoke upon us as the provision we need to successfully triumph this side of eternity... and when we learn His ways of gentleness and humility.

And so I whisper it today... Jesus help bind my weary heart to yours. I know it is there, and only there, where true victory is obtained!

Winning Through Warfare

I know I will not win a popularity contest when I say this, but I believe in it's truth very much.

While God is in NO WAY the author of evil, and He never causes hardship to enter into our lives... He does allow a measure of it.

And many of us have felt the pressure of His permission more times than we would care to admit.

Looking back over my life I have been SO BLESSED to have grown in my faith. My trust has been strengthened and my dependence on Jesus has been increased over the years. I have been able to review my spiritual progress and although at times it has been slower than others, I have been a witness to God's grace time and time and time again!

But when I take an honest look back I can truthfully say that even though I have been a recipient of increase through a process of consistent nourishment, nothing compares to the battles I have won through warfare.

The wars I have had to wage over the course of my Christian life have taught me more about the character of Christ than receiving blessing straight from His hand.
They have taught me about His goodness, they've reminded me of His faithfulness, and they have made me more aware of His constant, abiding presence.

Oh how I believe the Kingdom is advanced this side of eternity by warfare just as much as by intentional growth.

There's something sweeter about success when I have had to fight for it. Something divine when I have had to sit at the feet of Jesus' extra long to contend for a matter.

Scripture tells us that, "...we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Rom 8:37)
And some of our greatest triumphs will be the direct result of trials that have been designed for our spiritual benefit.

I gain through growth. Yet I also win through warfare.

Let's enter in bravely.
He will bring us through what He's brought us to.

Eyes of Compassion Over Expressions of Irritation

There are some mornings when I simply cannot even write fast enough to capture the ways God speaks to me. And so it was on Thursday morning of this past week.

I was leaving Starbucks and I could feel it welling up inside of me.

Frustration.
Irritation.

And I recognize it well when it rears it's ugly head.
It's all-too familiar.
Unfortunately.

The woman working the window must've been having a difficult morning. And I just may have been her target.
And then again maybe I wasn't her target at all... maybe she's just struggling. Maybe she needs Jesus. And just maybe I missed the opportunity to be the only grace-carrier she would see that day.

And as I felt the irritation swell within my spirit, I felt the immediate conviction of the Holy Spirit.

And I prayed these words as I drove away... "Give me eyes of compassion over expressions of irritation."

Because my frustration with the Starbucks employee had absolutely nothing to do with her. But it had everything to do with me.
It's a heart issue after all.
And it begged closer examination.

Hebrews 12:1, in part says this, "... let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up." The Passion Translation says it this way, "... let go of every wound that has pierced us."

It's as if it's saying, "That arrow that the enemy has used to pierce your heart is still lodged inside of you - and it's time to get it out! It's destroying you! It's destroying others THROUGH you."

By carrying around our own wounded-ness, we are in a sense carrying around a weight that keeps us from running the race of FREEDOM God has carefully mapped out for us!

And so I quickly ran home and wrote it in my journal, "Quit carrying around that arrow of wounded-ness! It doesn't belong in me! It's debilitating, distracting, defeating, dangerous, and downright damaging!

I read it in my commentary - "If we would run well, we must run light."

What is it that I must let go of so I can replace it with love, acceptance, forgiveness, and patience?

Father God, may I have eyes of compassion over expressions of irritation!

It so so so matters!

I Shall Watch Him Work

I have learned so much over the years from people God has strategically placed in my life.

I read it in a text she had sent me last month as I was going through a pretty intense battle in my physical body.

It's like she knew exactly what I needed to hear.
And she might not have... but God did.

And it meant so much more coming from the one who knew a bit about suffering. She, who had endured torment in her physical body for over a year with a horrible cancer diagnosis, was now bringing life and encouragement to me.

She said the words my heart needed.
We were talking about getting together for dinner and she said it, "We will WATCH Him work!"

Oh there's no way she could've known that is my word for the year.

Watch.

Because after almost a full year of "waiting", God had so graciously and so kindly given me my word for 2019... "Watch."

And I have been watching Him work all year long!
In more ways than I can ever describe to you!

But what was most powerful was her enormous faith.

We will "watch Him work."

There was expectation in that one line text.
Such faith.
Such trust in the One who holds everything in the palm of His hand.

And I wonder how many frustrations would melt away if we offered up this kind of confidence and reassurance every day of our lives?
I wonder how many giants of fear and anxiety would be destroyed by this kind of certainty in His power and surety in His willingness?

Oh we could all use a fresh dose of faith, couldn't we?

How about we begin today by saying, "I shall WATCH Him Work!"

I am already looking so forward to seeing His heart and Hand!

Keep Me Captivated

I felt it within me when I was praying the other day. And I have adopted it as one of my big prayers as of late.

Keep me captivated by Your grace, God.

Because the bottom line really is that we so often lack proper reverence for the Lord.

We love Him yes. But do we burn for Him?

Do we regard Him as holy and supremely divine?

Perhaps the reason we fear as often as we do is because we have lost our awe and wonder for how BIG a God He truly is. Maybe the reason we feel such anxiety and dread is because somewhere along the way we've lost our adoration and fervor for the One who paid the highest price to set us free.

Because on more occasions we have missed the mark when it comes to living in freedom.

By our words and by our ways we have granted ourselves permission to partner with the enemy, thus highlighting the work of evil.

We allow ourselves to collaborate with darkness by refusing to honor other people, by denying forgiveness to those who've hurt us, by rejecting those who don't think like we do. We remain entangled with shadows of despair when we allow comments to leave our mouths. When we insist on saying things like, "This isn't fair!", "Of course this would happen to me!", "I'm so scared!", "I'm so sick of people!"

Bill Johnson of Bethel Church says this, "The enemy only gets authority when I enter into partnership with what he says."

Oh and that, friends, should stop us dead in our tracks.

Oh God, that You would keep me in constant reverence of You. That I would not forget how big and awesome and wonderful You are!

May I never forget to remain CAPTIVATED by Your grace.

Because when I'm laser focused on Your heart and Your hand, I cannot be distracted by the enemey's hate and hostility.

I must stay radically captivated by You, God!

 

 

I Refuse To Find Fault

We have GOT to begin speaking better.

We have GOT to stay laser focused on managing our mouths better.

Because the scriptures say so.

Over and over again we are warned against the power of the tongue.

And it's what's damaging us more than we realize.

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Prob 18:21

"If you want to enjoy life and see many happy days, keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies." 1 Peter 3:10

"A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Prob 15:1

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." Eph 4:29

"And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell." James 3:6

Your tongue is powerful.

And the words we're speaking carry the capacity for more damage than we understand.

I heard a story recently about a pastor who was going through a really tough circumstance for which he was carrying around a lot of unnecessary guilt and shame. One evening his wife, seeing his anxiety over the matter, looked him in the eyes and said, "I find no fault in you."

He would later recall this as a defining moment of healing in his life. He said it wrecked him and instantly delivered him from the pressure of the enemy.

Because the enemy would love to see us remain in a place of defeat, he'll do anything to steal the Word from our lives and keep our minds fixated on all that we lack.

But this pastor's wife knew a little secret about words.

And she used them to speak life into her husband.

So what if we took on this type of attitude with those we are entrusted to love?

Because Jesus says it to those He calls His own.

"I find no fault in you."

And when we refuse to find fault in our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are behaving like Jesus.

I heard it from a sermon I listened to recently that a working definition of grace is: "God's overwhelming desire to treat us as if sin never happened."

Isaiah 43:25 says this, "I - yes I, alone - will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again."

He does it for HIS OWN SAKE.

Because He understands a little something about the benefit of giving grace.

"I find no fault in you. I refuse to remember your sins. For my sake I give grace beyond measure."

Giving grace benefits you and I. By refusing to point out blame and by refusing to find fault, we bring healing to our own hearts and lives!

Jesus took it to the cross.

The way of grace that we must emulate.

And so we must determine to watch our tongue.

We must find no fault in others in an effort to look more like the Father.

It's a requirement for Kingdom-centered Christians.

"Love one another" was not a suggestion.

It was a command.

By us refusing to find fault in those around us, we clean the environment of an enemy invasion. We protect our Kingdom culture. We allow heaven to influence earth.

Let's be a people who absolutely refuse to find fault in others.

Oh it matters more than you think!

He Promotes Our Faithfulness

Mephibosheth is an old testament character that I can relate well to. Not because he was lame in both feet, but because he was akin to disability. He understood the feeling of "not-enough"-ness.

I can relate.

Maybe you can too?

Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan who was the best friend of David, was crippled since early childhood. And he was more predominately to be the recipient of grace as a result of the covenant made between Jonathan and David.

Mephibosheth had done nothing that qualified him for kindness from the king, besides his position as the son of the one whom David had loved deeply.

And when David came to Mephibosheth to offer him a portion of land in fulfillment of the grace covenant made between he and his best friend, Jonathan, Mephibosheth says, "Give him (Ziba, the chief servant of the house of Saul, Jonathan's father and the one who had destroyed his own kingship) all of it. I am content just to have you safely back again my Lord the King." (2 Sam 19:30).

While Mephibosheth was certainly entitled to a portion of the land, what concerned him the most was that his king had returned. He, in fact, bears his own loss for the sake of the king. He proves, here, that he cares more for the benefactor than the benefits.

I love verse 28 of that same chapter. "All my relatives and I could expect only death from you," says Mephibosheth, BUT INSTEAD you have honored me by allowing me to eat at your own table! What more can I ask?"

Oh that the king could be so kind to him!

Oh that our King could be so kind to us!

My prayer is that Jesus would find me as equally grateful, loyal, and loving as this! Mephibosheth!

And the truth really is that like Mephibosheth we find in our own selves such deficiency and disqualification, don't we?

Mephibosheth indeed had limitations.

He had been disabled from childhood.

He indeed had his limitations... his disadvantages.

And so do we.

But he was enabled to endure them well and with great meekness because he was humble, thankful, sincere in his devotion, and selflessly disinterested in gain outside of full submission to the will of God.

When King David returned, he was looking for someone to bless. And according to that which he found, he abundantly provided!

When our King returns, He will be looking for someone to bless. And according to that which He finds, He will abundantly provide.

How will you and I be found?

Because His promotion and His reward will be given according to our devotion, loyalty, and faith.

Our job is to adore Him. To stay devoted to Him. To cling to Him. To remain steadfast before Him. To obey Him

His job is to reward faithfulness. To promote godliness. To honor devoted-ness.

Stay faithful, friends. Oh how much it matters! <3

 

 

May It Be Settled In Our Spirit

One of the BIG prayers I am praying for other people is this... That their love for God and their commitment to Him would be settled in their spirit.

Because the truth really is that I see it happening all around me. Discouraged people losing heart and leaving the faith. Broken people becoming so defeated by their overwhelming conditions that they abandon the one surest way through.

And my heart utterly breaks.

James warns us about forgetting what we've learned and disregarding the truth. In chapter 1, verses 23 and 24 he says, "For if you listen to the Word and don't obey it, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like."

Deuteronomy 8:11 says this, "Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey His commands..."

And Peter reminds us of how hard he, an apostle for Jesus, would work at reminding people about standing firm in their faith. 2 Peter 1:15 says, "I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone."

Why is it so important that we remember?

Because so often we forget.

And it's in our forgetfulness that we unconsciously enjoin with the enemy and make room for him to invade.

We unknowingly give him access by our amnesia.

Jesus even said the words that sting. "Anyone who isn’t with Me opposes Me, and anyone who isn’t working with Me is actually working against Me." Matt 12:30.

We cannot afford to withdraw from our faith. We can not allow the enemy entrance into our souls.

NOW is the time to rise up.

Devotedness to the Father has never been so critical.

Scripture tells is that the Father is looking for true worshippers... those who are willing to worship Him with their lives.... those who are surrendered to His will... those who are committed - with all that they are - to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

In John 9:4 Jesus warns us that night is coming soon when no one will be able to do the work assigned to him/her.

We've got this one life to fully and completely surrender to Jesus. We've got this one chance to make all we have a sacrifice to Him who is worthy of all we are. Because this place... this moment... is the only one we have to give an offering like this. Once we get to heaven we won't have this opportunity. There is no pain there and there is no suffering.

Oh we have this holy moment - right here! Right now! And it all matters!

My prayer for those who have lost their way is this - Lord, would you give them a settled spirit. Would you allow them to remember Your faithfulness. Would you grant them the ability to see past their circumstances into the eyes of the One who knows grief more than anyone and still remained faithful to His Daddy.

Don't lose heart dear ones.

May it be forever SETTLED in our spirit!

He is so so worthy!!