Beyond Ourselves Podcast

Do you ever think about pleasing God? Did you know that it’s possible to please God? Hebrews 11:5-6 states that Enoch was “pleasing to God” and that God is a REWARDER of THOSE WHO SEEK HIM.” I can’t think of a more admirable thing that could be said of a person than that they please God. I long to please God and I know you must, too. How can we please God? We can believe Him. We can take to Him whatever is overwhelming us, causing us to fear, or to doubt. We can ask Him to fill and equip us to handle whatever He permits in our life. We can know that, by faith, we’ll experience His glorious equipping and power to walk through our day.  We can serve God’s purposes. Today, we can please God in the little and big things, knowing that He is a REWARDER of THOSE WHO SEEK HIM.

“I’m tired! I’m tired of work. I’m tired of the tension in my life. I’m tired of struggling. I’m tired of taking care of….” How would you finish that sentence? God understands. Our body, mind, and soul need rest. The Bible says God rested on the seventh day. One of His Ten Commandments is to keep the Sabbath Day as a day of rest. Today, we often ignore the command to have a day of rest saying that it doesn’t apply to us. But isn’t that a little strange to decide which of God’s commands have value and which don’t? I agree that we are not bound to legalistically keep the Jewish Sabbath. I agree that Jesus’s work to obtain our salvation on the cross results in our NOT WORKING for salvation. And, I agree that God has provided a future eternal SABBATH REST. (Hebrews 4:9-10.) Until then, however, is there value in taking one day each week to rest our body and soul? I think there is, although I am admittedly late to learn the value. Rest. God modeled it.  

Do you feel drained or spiritually empty? You know you’re saved, but you’re tired and discouraged.  What do we do when we want to serve the Lord and energetically live for Him but we’re weary and feel like there’s nothing left in us to give? God answers our question.  In Jeremiah 31:25,  He says, “I satisfy the weary ones and refresh everyone who languishes.” The LORD is our REFRESHER. Jesus echoes this in Matthew 5:3-6. Are we poor in spirit? Are we mourning? Are we hungry and thirsty for righteousness? If so, we can go to the ever-flowing river of Life in the LORD. We can drink deeply of His Word and Spirit. We can be refreshed and our energy renewed to do what He places in our hands.

Heavenly Father, our daily lives often leave us feeling drained. Fill us with Your presence. Renew and refresh us so we are energized to serve You and others. 

Is there anything about you that isn’t perfect? If you are perfect, congratulations.  I’m not. As a matter of fact, the closer I grow to Christ, the more aware I am of pesky sin in my life. If you, like me, are mindful of your sin, here are some encouraging words. Malachi 3:3 says the Lord “will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness.” What good news! As Christ’s priests (1 Peter 2:9), we have confidence in our REFINER who is extracting sin from our life and clarifying us so we can stand before Him one day, shiny and perfect, and present to Him offerings in righteousness.

Are you looking for peace and happiness? Do you want a better life? Only one person, our REDEEMER, has the holiness, the wholeness, the power, and grace to be our all in all. Or, as Colossians 1:13-14 says, Jesus is the only One able to rescue us from the domain of darkness and transfer us to His kingdom. Jesus is the one who is able to rescue us from the sin and heartache of this world and take us to the holy heights of heaven. So, we look to the cross. We look to the resurrected Lord. We look to the Bible. We look to the skies. And, we know … that as He kept His Word to come to us once for salvation, He’ll return to redeem us out of this world and take us to our eternal home and a better life. Our redemption is closer today than it was yesterday.

Have you noticed that people in our nation are at odds with one another? “What an understatement!” you may say. And, you’re right.  Rioting in the name of peaceful protests. Name-calling and accusations.  One faction looking at the other as an enemy.  In light of that, did you know Romans 5:10 says we were once enemies of God? Gulp. Not a good position!  How did we get on the right side of God so we’re not His enemy? “We were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” It took Jesus’s death to reconcile us to God. The verse continues, “we shall be saved by His life.” No one wants to be on the wrong side of an issue. No one wants to be on the wrong side of God. We have Jesus to thank for reconciling us to our glorious Heavenly Father.

TIP: How to Pray for Unbelievers

Death. It seems so final. I’d been prepared for my mother’s death because she’d been ill for a long time. But the casket. The cemetery. I broke down weeping. Some family members whispered they were surprised at my grief, but all I could think of was how much I was going to miss her.  So what does Jesus want us to know about death and what did He prove when He raised Lazarus and others from the dead? He wants us to know that death isn’t final. Jesus describes death as sleep and that just as a loved one rouses us from sleep by calling our name, Jesus will rouse us from death. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25)  Yes, believer, you will hear Christ’s voice (imagine that!) and will wake in Jesus’s presence. Better words could never be said. Who do we need to share them with?

Have you ever been driving and keeping your eyes on the road before you when suddenly a car came up too fast behind you? If so, you probably know the startling feeling and hope that the driver slows down rather than rear-end you. Often, we speak of the Lord leading us, but Isaiah 52:12 also speaks of Him as watching out for our backs. “… the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your REAR GUARD.”  In this verse, God is referred to as a rearguard when the Israelites escaped Egyptian bondage. God is also our rear guard. He watches over us, leads us, and not until heaven will we know how many times He’s protected us from encroaching danger and evil. Just as it was important for Moses and the Israelites to pay attention to and follow God’s instructions, it’s important for us to pay attention and follow His instructions. How do His warnings and instructions come to us? In the Bible and the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

Lord, thank You for being our REAR GUARD and for all the ways You watch over us and protect us. How comforting to know You’ve got our back.

Do you ever feel blah? There are things you could be, should be doing, but you’re stuck? Nobody likes that feeling. So what do we do when we don’t feel motivated to pray, work, or get moving? We lift up our soul to God.  (Psalm 143:8)  We read God’s Word regardless of how we feel, and while reading, discover that we’re encouraged and inspired. God’s thoughts become our thoughts. His passions become our passions. We ask our Heavenly Father to give us the mind and energy of Christ. The King James Version of 1 Corinthians 15:45 contrasts the first man, Adam, with the “last Adam,” Jesus, in this way: “The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a QUICKENING SPIRIT.” As a Quickening Spirit, Jesus arouses and invigorates us. Christ-followers are not spiritually dead. We’re alive! Pray and ask God to fill you with His Holy Quickening Spirit. Then, pay attention to the promptings He places on your heart and mind.

TIP:  I daily open my Prayers of My Heart journal so I can record what God quickens me to pray and prompts me to do. Having our Bible, pen, and journal in hand signals to God that we are ready and listening, eager to follow His promptings.  

Heavenly Father, thank You for Jesus who is a Quickening Spirit! Arouse and invigorate us to do Your will. 

Did you see the movie, Ransom? Mel Gibson played the father of the son who was kidnapped. There was no way the kidnapped son could free himself. The kidnappers demanded that the father pay a certain price, a ransom, to get his son back. That’s what our Father did for us. We were captives in sin so our Heavenly Father gave Jesus as the RANSOM to pay for our freedom. Was it only our Father’s idea? No. First Timothy 2:6 says that Jesus was in one accord with the Father. “…Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a RANSOM for all.” Yes, our sweet Lord gave Himself as a ransom so we could be reunited with Him and our Heavenly Father forever. How do we become free from sin? We say “yes” to the offer of Jesus being our ransom so we are released from being a captive to sin and Satan.

Lord Jesus, we praise You, our RANSOM, our LORD.