Tag Archives: Ephesians 2:4-5

Steps of Delight

When I was a kid we had no cell phones, no internet, and no video games. Personal computers hadn’t been invented. We had four TV channels, if you included the educational channel. A few shows were in color including, Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, which aired on Sunday nights. So, we spent a lot of time playing outside.

At the bottom of my road, my good friends Larry and Lee lived next to each other. On Saturday mornings, I might watch a few cartoons, but I much preferred being with my buds. As soon as possible, I’d hop on my bike and coast down the hill to their houses to hang out.

One Saturday morning, in my excitement, I arrived earlier than usual. Seeing no activity at either house, I parked my bike and waited on a short stone wall in between their two houses. I don’t remember who showed up first, but I do recall my delight when one of them emerged from their house. These were my good buddies and we had so much fun together riding our bikes to the community pool, fishing in the creek or playing whatever sport was in season.

I enjoyed being with my friends and I read that God delights to be with me even more than I wanted to be with Lee and Larry.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me (Psalm 18:18-19 NASB).

 This is quite hard to believe, and I don’t always feel as if it’s true. Yet, if I lived the moments of my day in the splendor of this reality, my life would be wonderfully different.

But how?

First, I must realize the facts concerning God’s love for me, then I must act upon the truths or count them as so.

Realize and Recon, the two step of walking in God’s delight.

REALIZE

Realize – to become aware of something as a fact, understand fully

There are many verses in the Bible about how very much God loves his children.

Following is just a few to personalize in a conversation with God:

  • Before the world was formed, You chose to love me and to adopt me as Your child [1]
  • You’ve loved me with an everlasting love, a love which is unaffected by any of my thoughts, how I feel or even my choices [2]
  • You’re familiar with all my waysYou weaved me together in my mother’s womb, Your thoughts toward me are beyond number [3]
  • Your love for me surpasses understanding. Even the breadth, width, length and height of the ocean and the sky above doesn’t adequately portray how delighted You are in me [4]
  • Even when I was against You, dead in my sinful ways and lost with no hope, You gave Your very life so that we could be together forever [5]
  • You rejoice and shout for joy when You’re with me [6]

Pause a moment and relook at these truths. Take note of any which your mind pushes away as not true. Perhaps there’s a lie you’re believing which repels the truth.

Spend awhile in prayer disagreeing with the lie, recognizing that God’s word is far more reliable than historically faulty thinking.

RECKON

Reckon – rely on something to be sure.

In verse 11 of Romans chapter 6, Paul tells us to reckon ourselves dead to sin. Other translations say “consider”. The idea is to personally count as a fact something that is true. As certain as a bank statement is reconciled, and there is no “maybe” about it. It’s either reconciled or not. What God says is true. We’re to reckon it so.

For example, I read God delights to be with me, that I cause Him to be joyful. Though this seems unbelievable, His word says it’s true, so I reckon it so.

From what we realized above, we rely on to be true:

  • Before I was even born, God chose to love me
  • God adopted me to be His child
  • God loves me with a love which can’t change, even when I sin
  • God knows everything about me, yet still loves me
  • God uniquely fashioned me in my mother’s womb
  • God thinks about me all the time
  • God loves me with a quality of love which doesn’t fit in my mind. His love is beyond measuring. It surpasses knowledge and doesn’t fit in my mind
  • God loves me with a love which is greater than my disposition toward Him. Even when I was against Him, Christ gave His life for me.
  • God loves me so much; I bring Him joy.

 Practice the Rhythm

Pick one amazing truth about God’s love for you a day and do the two-step.

Realize it – lodge it in your mind

Recon it – consider it true no matter what rises in opposition

 Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand. (Psalm 73:23 NASB)

Remember, as you walk, He’s taken hold of your hand.

Prayer

Lord, knowing your love changes everything. Please reveal your great delight in me now and always. Help me travel in your delight. By Your mighty divine power, destroy every speculation and lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of Your love for me. Fill my heart with fresh awareness of your delight in me in every step I take. In Jesus’ name I pray.   

[1] Ephesians 1:4-5

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] Psalm 139

[4] Ephesians 3:17-19

[5] Ephesians 2:4-5

[6] Zephaniah 3:17

Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child.

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

Rob Buck

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?  Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Discipleship Rhythms: Walking in God’s Delight

How do I travel in the truth that God Delights in me? 

Story

When I was a kid we had no cell phones, no internet, and no video games. Personal computers had not been invented. We had four TV channels, if you included the educational channel. A few shows were in color including, Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, which aired on Sunday nights. So, we spent a lot of time playing outside.

At the bottom of my road, my good friends Larry and Lee lived next to each other. On Saturday mornings, I might watch a few cartoons, but I much preferred being with my buds. As soon as possible, I’d hop on my bike and coast down the hill to their houses to hang out. We’d play basketball, baseball or football, fish in the creek or ride our bikes to the community pool to swim.

I remember, in my excitement, arriving too early one Saturday morning. I saw no activity in either house, so I parked my bike and sat on a bank in between their two houses and waited to play with them. I don’t remember who showed up first, but when one of them came out of their house, I was so happy to see them. These were my good buddies. We had so much fun together.

Does God delight to be with me this way? Is He eager for us to be together? I read that He is, but I have a hard time grasping it.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me (Psalm 18:18-19 NASB).

What are the steps?

Since we’re talking about walking in God’s delight for us, what’s a two-step rhythm we can develop as we walk?

REALIZE

Realize – to become aware of something as a fact, understand fully

There are many verses in the Bible about how very much God loves his children.

Following are just a few to personalize:

  • Before the world was formed, You chose to love me and to adopt me as Your child [1]
  • You’ve loved me with an everlasting love, a love which is unaffected by any of my thoughts, how I feel or even my choices [2]
  • You’re familiar with all my ways, You weaved me together in my mother’s womb, Your thoughts toward me are beyond number [3]
  • Your love for me surpasses understanding. Even the breadth, width, length and height of the ocean and the sky above doesn’t adequately portray how delighted You are in me [4]
  • Even when I was against You, dead in my sinful ways and lost with no hope, You gave Your very life so that we could be together forever [5]
  • You rejoice and shout for joy when You’re with me [6]

Pause a moment and relook at these truths. Before we go on, take note of any which your mind pushes away as not true. Perhaps there’s a lie you’ve believed which repels the truth.

Spend awhile in prayer disagreeing with the lie, recognizing that God’s word is far more reliable than faulty thinking.

RECKON

Reckon – rely on something to be sure.

In verse 11 of Romans chapter 6, Paul tells us to reckon ourselves dead to sin. Other translations say “consider”. The idea is to personally count as a fact something that is true. As certain as a bank statement is reconciled, and there is no “maybe” about it. It’s either reconciled or not. What God says is absolutely true. We’re to reckon it so.

For example, I read God delights to be with me, that I cause Him to be joyful. Though this seems unbelievable, His word says it’s true, so I reckon it so.

We reckon the following as so:

  • Before I was even born, God chose to love me
  • God adopted me to be His child
  • God loves me with a love which can’t change, even when I sin
  • God knows everything about me, yet still loves me
  • God uniquely fashioned me in my mother’s womb
  • God thinks about me all the time
  • God loves me with a quality of love which doesn’t fit in my mind. His love is beyond measuring. It surpasses knowledge and doesn’t fit in my mind
  • God loves me with a love which is greater than my disposition toward Him. Even when I was against Him, Christ gave His life for me.
  • God loves me so much, I bring Him joy.

Practice the Rhythm

Pick one amazing truth about God’s love for you a day and do the two-step.

Realize it – lodge it in your mind

Recon it – consider it true no matter what rises up in opposition

Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand. (Psalm 73:23 NASB)

All along, as you take each step, remember His nearness. As you walk, He’s taken hold of your hand.

Prayer

Lord, knowing your love changes everything. Reveal your great delight in me now and always. Help me travel in your delight. By your mighty divine power, destroy every speculation and lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of Your love for me. Fill my heart with fresh awareness of your delight in me in every step I take. In Jesus’ name I pray.   

[1] Ephesians 1:4-5

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] Psalm 139

[4] Ephesians 3:17-19

[5] Ephesians 2:4-5

[6] Zephaniah 3:17

Previous posts in our Discipleship Rhythms Series:

God’s Amazing Love

God’s Essential Love

What Hides God’s Love

Christ Lives in Me

Raised up with Christ

Who’s your Treasure?

Obtaining the Joy of Jesus 

Orienting Life from Above

When Things Get Hard

Communing with God

Receiving God’s Love to Give it Away

Love First  

The Joy of Putting Others First

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading. 

 Novels by the Author:

What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for?  Beyond Time

By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains

Walking in God’s Delight

Being With My Buds

When I was a kid we had no cell phones, no internet, and no video games. Personal computers had not been invented. We had four TV channels, if you included the educational channel. A few shows were in color including, Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, which aired on Sunday nights. So, we spent a lot of time playing outside.

At the bottom of my road, my good friends Larry and Lee lived next to each other. On Saturday mornings, I might watch a few cartoons, but I much preferred being with my buds. As soon as possible, I’d hop on my bike and coast down the hill to their houses to hang out. We’d play basketball, baseball or football, fish in the creek or ride our bikes to the community pool to swim.

I remember, in my excitement, arriving too early one Saturday morning. I saw no activity in either house and I didn’t want to wake anyone. I parked my bike and sat on a bank in between their two houses and waited to play with them. I don’t remember who showed up first, but when one of them came out of their house, the games began.

Would God arrive early to be with me? Would He wait eagerly for me to appear? I read that He would, and so much more. But, I can’t grasp it.

They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me (Psalm 18:18-19 NASB).

Lord, I read you delight in me. You’re gladder to be with me than I was to be with Larry and Lee. Being with me gives You pleasure. I can’t fathom this.

All You’ve Done for Me

Lord, open the eyes of my heart to all you’ve done for me and how much You long to be with me.

  • Before the world was formed, you chose to love me and to adopt me as your child[1]
  • You’ve loved me with an everlasting love which is unaffected by any of my thoughts, feelings or choices[2]
  • You’re familiar with all my ways, You weaved me together in my mother’s womb, Your thoughts toward me are beyond number[3]
  • Your love for me surpasses understanding. Even the breadth, width, length and height of the ocean and the sky above doesn’t adequately portray how delighted you are in me[4]
  • Even when I was against you, dead in my sinful ways and lost with no hope, you gave your very life so that we could be together forever[5]
  • You rejoice and shout for joy when You’re with me[6]

Wow! Great thanks and praise well up in my heart at all you’ve done for me. You care for me more than any person ever could.

Declaring Your Love for Me

Lord, nothing in my life can thwart your love for me.

I was in your mind when you created the world and Your thoughts toward me can’t be measured.

You know everything about me.

You designed me according to Your plans for me.

You’re so happy to be with me You gave your life to rescue me from oblivion.

I make you rejoice and jump for joy.

Walking in God’s Delight

How will walking in heart felt awareness of God’s delight in me change me?

Walking in God’s delight allows me to absorb the hurtful actions of others, like flaming arrows extinguished in a vast ocean.

Walking in God’s delight allows me to I trust that even the very difficult trials I’m going through are being used by Him for my eternal good.

Walking in God’s delight allows me to stay aware of His nearness and rejoice in life’s moments with him.

Walking in God’s delight allows me to notice and appreciate more fully His creation around me.

Walking in God’s delight allows me to love others with His abiding love.

Walking in God’s delight allows me to desire Him and delight in Him about all else.

Walking in God’s delight fills me with the overflowing joy of His presence.

Our Opposition

Walking in heartfelt awareness of God’s delight will literally change the moments of our days and transform our lives. So, it’s a key strategy of our adversary to try and block this life changing knowledge. But we are not unaware of these schemes and we are divinely empowered to destroy everything that blocks God’s love.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB).

Prayer

Lord, knowing your love changes everything. Reveal your great delight in us now and always. Help us walk in your delight. By your mighty divine power, destroy every speculation and lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of your love. Fill our hearts with fresh awareness of your delight in us. In Jesus name I pray.   

Novels by the Author:

Beyond Time

Hope Remains

[1] Ephesians 1:4-5

[2] Jeremiah 31:3

[3] Psalm 139

[4] Ephesians 3:17-19

[5] Ephesians 2:4-5

[6] Zephaniah 3:17

What is Abundant Life?

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10

It’s Saturday morning in South Carolina. Though it’s before 10 am, it’s already hot and I have a fan whirling. I sip my coffee and watch the birds visit the three bird feeders we’ve placed beyond the reach (at least for now) of relentless squirrel visits.

I love Saturday mornings. Unless I’ve packed my schedule too tightly, there’s time to sit and relish God’s nearness.

This morning I read John 10:10. I pause at the promise of abundant life.

Abundant Life. What does it really mean?

Through our country’s eyes, abundance has a lot to do with possessions. Yet we know this kind of abundance doesn’t produce abundant life.

Statistic show that half the world’s wealth is in the hands of 1% of the population. Can these 1% say their possessions have given them abundant life? History is dotted with sad stories that say no. Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hughes and Earnest Hemingway are just a few who lived in abundance of possessions, yet their lives ended sadly, not reflecting the abundant life Jesus is referring to.

In fact, it can be argued that abundant possessions inhibit abundant life. Stuff can drain much time and energy, leaving little margin for true abundance.

By implication, abundance can also be associated with success, good health and overall good circumstanced. There is certainly nothing wrong with desiring all these things,  but we know that circumstantial happiness does not translate directly to abundant life either.

The abundant life Jesus refers is not tied to possessions or circumstances. In fact His abundant life is exponentially more satisfying and stable than either.

Years ago, during a two week missions trip to Lima Peru, I was deeply saddened by the living conditions I saw.  Poverty forced mothers to do the unthinkable, releasing their young sons to fend for themselves on the streets.

Our group served at Casa Hogar, an orphanage designed to feed and educated these children. But many of the abandoned children were already steeped in a life of glue sniffing, stealing and prostitution. Chained to this life, they  refused the long term help of the orphanage. Some were adopted, however, and shown the love of Jesus.

In spite of all the poverty and sadness in Lima, there was a quality of love we saw in the believers which I had not experienced in the United States. The folks who worked at Casa Hogar seemed to be refreshingly free from the pursuit of possessions and smooth circumstances.

We all experienced such a depth of the love of Jesus during our two weeks in Peru that many of us dreaded to return to the  “rat race” of the American culture.

We had the audacity to think we were traveling to South America to “minster” the love of Jesus to folks in dire straights. But we were the ones who were deeply touched by the love of Jesus flowing through the Peruvians, even the children.

As I take another sip of coffee, and notice a squirrel repelling down a wire to once again help itself to our bird seed, I write the following words:

Abundant life is not abundant possessions or smooth circumstances. Abundant life is Abundant love.

The Bible is saturated with remarkable language about God’s love,  but there is no better demonstration of abundant love than what Jesus did for each one of us on the cross.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.[1]

 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)[2]

As I watch the squirrel wrapped around the feeder, spilling seed everywhere, I conclude that  the kind of abundant life Jesus promises us has everything to do with His love.

But how does God’s abundant love translate into an abundant life for us on a day by day basis? In other words, what is our part in God’s story of abundant love?

I believe the answer is in John 15.

In verse 9, we get a such an astounding definition of abundant love that only the Spirit of God can fully reveal it to our hearts. Jesus tells us “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you;”

Pause a moment. Jesus loves us as much as God the Father loves Him. This is stunning!

Allow this truth full access to your heart, penetrating every hardened sinew  of protection and blowing away every argument of self hatred.

Jesus loves us beyond our comprehension and He demonstrated it by dying in our place on the cross

The second part of  John 15:9 is a command:

“Remain in my love.”

Remain where God has placed us, in the love of Jesus.  We did nothing to earn this love, ours is to not move from where we have been placed.

Verses 10 and 12 tell us how.

If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love. (10)

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. (12)

We remain in Jesus love, by loving like Him; by being willing in every situation to love sacrificially. This is what we experienced in Peru; folks being freed up from chasing possessions and smooth circumstances to love like Jesus in spite of their poverty and difficulties.

Imagine for a moment what it would be like to not have the burden of the “rat race” facing us every day; to rather ask God each day, by the Indwelling Spirit of Christ, to love the people He brings our way; to yield to the Spirit in us to allow Him to love as us.

This is abundant life. Allowing the abundant love of Jesus to flow through us.  ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38

If you don’t see already that abundant life is abundant love, allow me to seal the deal.

Couched in between verses 10 and 12 in John 15 is the following verse:

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. John 15:11

Abundant life is abundant love.

 

[1] Romans 5:8

[2] Ephesians 2:4-5