Developing an UP rhythm with God starts with us understanding the truth about God’s love.
Lay aside all you think you know about God’s love and allow His word to stretch your mind and fill your heart to overflowing.
It doesn’t take a pandemic and a nation marred in disunity to render us faint at heart. Life can be discouraging even without that stuff.
And when we get a full dose and need to pause to catch our breath, life keeps on coming at us. To remain courageous, we must muster our faith.
Muster – to assemble troops as for a battle, to gather, to summon, to rouse
On a regular basis, we have repeated opportunities to gather and summon our faith. Like workouts in the gym, rousing our trust when things aren’t smooth builds muscle memory and strengthens our faith.
How do we muster our faith when we’re weak and God seems distant?
Following are a few musts.
All the days of the afflicted are bad, But a cheerful heart has a continual feast. (Proverbs 15:15 NASB).
Solomon wrote that all the days of the afflicted are bad. Afflicted – poor, humble, wretched, needy and lowly. Though this might not describe all our days, most of us have experienced times of affliction. But, in his wisdom, Solomon gave us a remedy. We need a cheerful heart. If we have that, he says we’ll have a continual feast, the longings of our hearts will stay satisfied. No more searching for someone or somebody to fill our deep desires. A cheerful heart will fill us up to overflowing joy.
This sounds exciting, but how does it play out in the moments of our lives? Sometimes the condition of our hearts hang in the balance, based on how we’re feeling or what’s going on around us. What’s the secret of having and maintaining a cheerful heart and how do we walk in continual spiritual nourishment?
As our unusual 2020 comes to a close, we pause to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Immanuel. God with us. The Creator of the universe brought near. But what does this really mean? And how does God being with us change who we are, our approach to life and our purpose?
But what is most important about God’s nearness is how His strength and Joy gives us the courage to face any battle we’re in. He’s an ever present help in times of trouble.
Jesus speaks of us having His joy, a quality of joy which is unaffected by circumstances, a joy which motivates and gives endurance. He wants us to have this complete joy. Seems joy is more than an optional “nice to have” part of our lives. It’s something Jesus intends for us.
Jesus spoke the above words the night before His crucifixion. Yet, even knowing what awaited Him, Jesus speaks of full joy.
What’s the quality of His joy and how do we step into it?
What can we learn from examining the Joy of Jesus in scripture?
It’s a couple of days before Thanksgiving. However, in this COVID-19 year, nothing is normal. Perhaps shaking things up a bit is a good thing. So far this year I’ve learned, among other things, to detach from sports and politics, to truly quiet myself and rest, and to more fully appreciate the people and world around me. What will this year’s Thanksgiving like?
In a recent message, Pastor Steve Berger[1] used the term “Eternal Thanksgiving” in describing how we have reason to be forever thankful for blessings which do not change. If we can latch onto this concept of always being thankful for what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, life’s many blessings become like cherries on top of a continual thanksgiving feast.
Can we be heavenly minded here on earth?
If so, how? And if we are embracing God’s greater story, can this bring comfort and joy to others?
God My Keeper
On our deck is a cross with the word “Keeper” burned into the wood. The Hebrew word from the verse in Isaiah translated “Keeper” means to watch over, to guard, to be blockaded and hidden from danger, to be kept close.
The Lord is near.
In John 7, Jesus invites us to come to Him and satisfy our thirst. He speaks of Rivers of Living Water flowing from within us, satisfying our deepest longings. Every moment we’re guarded and watered.
But what about when we feel unprotected?
A friend ended his job last year, but he didn’t retire. He called it repurposing. Being an extremely successful executive, he’s shifted his experiences and resources to helping the homeless. This current pandemic has disrupted daily routines and shaken our purposes. One man exclaimed, “No sports! What am supposed to do now?” Many have been forced to shift from the well-worn paths of familiar agendas. But while lesser purposes are crumbling an unshakable all satisfying purpose emerges.
Troublesome monkeys have been known to be caught with a simple trap which plays on their unwillingness to open their hands. A coconut is hollowed out with a hole just big enough for the monkey’s hand to fit in. Sweet rice is placed inside. When a monkey reaches inside and grabs the bait, their fist is stuck in the hole. Unwilling to open their hands and give up the prize, the monkey is trapped and eventually caught.
We can learn from their ignorant stubbornness. We’re to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind. But we can be fooled into loving the good things of life above Him. God wants us to experience Him as our highest Joy. When we hold tightly to earthly idols, our hearts are trapped and limited to fleeting, temporal joys. We’re unstable and tossed into the changing seas of circumstance. But we need to know God is at work in us to conform us into the image of His Son and to free us into the complete Joy of knowing Him as our Pearl of Great Value, worth all we have.
