Beyond Ourselves
Finger Pointing, Rock Slinging Reversal
Peace between people. Is it a dream? Is it a far-fetched wish? Is it an impossibility? It seems to be. Why? Because although we aren’t perfect, we expect others be perfect. Now, think about something with me. What if that’s how Jesus related to us? What if the Father, Son, and Spirit demanded our perfection 24/7? What if when we didn’t live up to their expectations, we were out the door, banned forever, with no path of reconciliation? I hope and pray that each of us can in at the least the tiniest of ways have a deep appreciation that God treats us differently than some people treat one another. In fact, not only does our Lord not hold our sins over our heads, it’s important to Him that we live free of condemnation. Remember when the Jews were itching to stone a woman caught in adultery? They had the rocks in their hands. Their self-righteous arms were wound for throw. But when Jesus confronted them, when He invited the one who was sin free to use his rock to pellet her, the self-righteous slunk away. What did the Lord of Lords then do? If you said, pellet her with rocks because she was guilty and deserving of punishment, you’re right and you’re wrong. You’re correct in saying she was deserving of death according to the Law. You are incorrect, however about Jesus’s response. He told her He didn’t condemn her and for her to go and sin no more. Jesus wants the same for us. He is our Advocate, as 1 John 2:1 explains,
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
There it is. The Bible is our guide on how not to sin and hopefully, we’re asking Jesus to help us walk in His steps. When we have mis-steps, which we will, what a blessing that we have the full assurance Jesus is our Advocate just as He was for the adulterous woman. Only when we arrive in heaven will we fully appreciate the magnitude of Jesus winning our court case by taking our guilt on Himself.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being our Advocate. Help us be mindful of Your Word. Help us walk according to it.
Your character trait of God to record in Prayers of My Heart and for which to praise Him: Advocate.
Why FOR Never Works
Do you get frustrated when you “blow it” in regard to your Christian walk? I do. Almost every day, I’m mindful of something I should have done or could have done that would have brought honor to Christ. The reminder in 2 Corinthians 3:5 helps me in those times. It says, “
Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.
The word “adequacy” in this verse means sufficiency, ability, or competency. Here we find a key to our desire to live “for” Christ. We can’t live “for” Him in our own strength. Rather, we need to let Christ live His life IN and through us. His adequacy is the key. Our ability to be and our ability to do that to which God calls us comes from God in us. Instead of trying to live the Christian life in our own strength, we can pray, ”Fill me with YOUR Spirit so I walk by Your adequacy.” That is our hope-filled prayer.
Thank You, LORD, that Christ is in us and He is adequate.
*This is one of God’s 365 attributes for which we can praise and trust Him. Second Corinthians 3:5 is a good verse to memorize. If you have Prayers of My Heart, record it in the “Meditations, Notes, and Prayers” section. Then record your prayer for Christ to fill you with His Spirit.
If Back Room Power Plays Are Getting You Down
Recently there seems to be an increase in back room power plays among people. It is disturbing regardless of what person, political party, or entity you support. I suppose that’s why I find such joy meditating on Jesus. He is the only one who is pure and He is the ultimate one to whom we can look. In addition, it also helps to remember that He is above all. Yes, Ephesians 1:20-21 clearly states that Jesus is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Aren’t those beautiful words on which to meditate? Jesus is above every rule and authority and power and dominion. ABOVE all. Above ALL. Do we get it? Christ is ABOVE ALL, not only in this age but also in the age to come. Hallelujah! And, this is especially good news. He is our friend. He urges us to tell Him our needs. He offers to help when we call on Him. What a wonderful Savior!
Lord Jesus, You who are far ABOVE ALL rule and authority and power and dominions, we love and worship You. Thank You for the reminder.
Psst: If you’ve just started daily journaling God’s attributes on which you can meditate and rejoice, write “Above All” or, “Far Above All” for today.
Do You Need a “Yet” in Your Life
Have you ever given yourself a good hard look and thought, “I can’t do it”? Maybe you did some soul searching after hearing a sermon on forgiveness. After contemplating if you could forgive a person, you thought, “I can’t.” Or maybe you’ve had surgery and were told to get up and walk down the hall. Laying in bed you considered how weak you felt. The idea of swinging your legs over the bed seemed impossible and to touch your feet to the hospital floor and take steps insurmountable. Maybe you’ve been nauseated. You haven’t slept. You’re weak. You contemplate your twin’s cries to be lifted from their crib and you don’t think you have the strength to take care of them all day. The above situations are ones you’ve perhaps experienced, and somewhere deep down inside you ended up realizing that hard as it was, you were able to do the hard work before you. But there was another person who contemplated his situation and unlike the ones we ended up being able to do, he truly wasn’t able. Yet God was telling him a result that was expected. We find the situation being recounted in Romans 4:17-21. God told Abraham he would be the father of many nations and that he would father a child with his wife, Sarah. But listen to his odds for doing that. “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;” Stop right there. Can’t you just see it? Abraham is looking at his body. He’s staring at it. Contemplating it. “Isn’t going to happen,” he must be thinking. But even if a miracle happened with his body, he turns and looks at his wrinkled wife and contemplates that she wasn’t able to get pregnant in her fertile years. Not going to happen.
“Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform, Romans 4:20-21.”
Amazing! Whoop it up with me will you? Do you need a “yet”? A “yet with respect to the promises of God” in your life? God is here for us. Refresh your knowledge of how His promises are relevant by studying 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and Jude.
In Times of Trouble
In your lifetime, how many people have you seen take positions of leadership and then be unseated? People and countries are often shaken by these changes. While some people are hopeful, others are fearful. Of the many assurances the Bible gives us, one is that our Heavenly Father has an eternal reign. He is seated on a throne and there is no person or principality who can unseat him. Psalm 9:7 assures us,
the Lord abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment.
Forever. Established. Those are comforting words. But what about his throne of judgment? The psalmist explains in verses 8-9.
And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble;
Good news. In addition to the comfort of knowing our Heavenly Father will remain long after our world’s rulers have come and gone, we have the comfort of knowing that He will judge the world righteously and be a stronghold for the oppressed. He is our stronghold, too, in our times of trouble. We can go to him. We can talk things over. What do you need to talk to him about today?
Heavenly Father, we praise You that You have established Your throne and no one can unseat You. Thank you for being a God of equity. Thank you that we can come to you when we’re having trouble.
When Fear Overtakes You
Have you ever seen the look in a child’s eyes when they were startled or afraid because they couldn’t see where their parent was? On the other hand, have you seen a child who is afraid look for and find their father and run to him? Have you heard a child cry for their parent? If so, consider Romans 8:15 that says believers have “
received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘ABBA FATHER.
Abba Father can be translated Daddy. So what does Romans 8:15 imply? It tells us that our relationship with God is tender and close. God has chosen to come close to us. He has chosen to embrace us. He has chosen to get into human skin so we can see and smell Him. We can watch and learn from Him. We can run to Him as children ran to Jesus and He embraced and blessed them. He protected and defended them. Our Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus Christ deeply care for us. In a world that sometimes seems to have gone mad, it’s reassuring to know that we have a Heavenly Father. Although we may be startled or afraid at times due to the events in our life, nation, or world we can look to our Father and assured that He’s watching out for and over us.
Heavenly Father, ABBA FATHER, thank You for adopting us into Your family. When we fear, turn our eyes to You. Help us walk confidently through our day assured that You’ve got us.
Are You Ready for a New Year
Last year innocent people were killed. Covide didn’t go away as hoped. You made it through one storm and another hit. Are you ready for the new year? If so, may I recommend how Psalm 61:3 describes God.
You have been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.”
A tower is a high place from which we can look at life and see it from God’s perspective. The spiritual tower of prayer is the place from where we can pray, pour out our heart to God, intercede for others, and quietly listen for His counsel. If we want to experience God’s best next year, we can. Our Father is a tower of strength and refuge to whom we can go. Start the New Year strong…with your face set like flint toward heaven, with your pen in your hand ready to write words of praise to your Father and intercessions for your family, church, nation, friends, and yes, yourself. The Bible is a journal of God’s interactions with man, of people’s struggles, and God’s faithful interventions and merciful hand. Your copy of Prayers of My Heart becomes your journal of God’s interactions with you, of your struggles, and God’s faithful interventions and merciful hand. I encourage you to get a journal. Why? Because it’s a spiritual, emotional, mental game changer. Take a glance at the benefits of journaling. I also have a Quick Start Video on how to get started, a Quick Start Guide, or you can watch my conference Starting Strong with 2020 Vision. Begin the new year with a new approach – journaling with God.
What Others Are Saying- scroll down
Jesus, tower of strength and refuge, we praise You. When we don’t know how we can get through the next minute, You help us get through the next year. You are our strength and help. Thank You for all the ways You guarded and guided us this past year. We look to this coming year with joy and hope because of You.
Good Year? Bad Year?
As you look at the past year, are your thoughts, “It’s been great!” Or are your thoughts more along the lines of, “It’s been a rough year”? Perhaps the “rough” is related to health issues, finances, work, your marriage, children, parents, friendships. It may be related to your frustration with yourself, that you continue to struggle with the same issues. Whatever the case, God wants us to be mindful of the fact that just as He was there for us in the past, He’ll be there for us in the new year. That’s something for which to be grateful!
Why not be intentional about developing a more grateful attitude in the new year? Why bother? Consider – who would you rather be around? A negative person or a grateful person; someone who takes advantage of your kindness or someone who expresses their appreciation? Psalm 63:4 says,
“I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.”
Are you daily blessing the Lord by recalling what He does for you each day? I’m not referring to generalities such as, “Thank you, God, for this food and our home and family,” although we should express our appreciation to God for those things. Rather, I’m referring to blessing the Lord by gratefully celebrating how He has worked in your day and in the lives of those for whom you have prayed. I hope you have a copy of Prayers of My Heart journal so you can begin the new year daily lifting your hands in praise, lifting your pen to paper and journaling God’s character trait and what He has done each day. It is not too late to order. Make this next year distinct by making it the year you daily bless God with your thanks.
Here’s a good place to start: Our Heavenly Father is
“just and justifierof the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:26
We bless you, Lord, for being both just and for being our justifier. We are so grateful!
Are We Tolerating What Jesus is Against
Jesus is the Son of Man who knows what it is to live in human skin. However, what is inside of Him is different from us. His innermost being is holy glowing purity. Revelation 2:18-20a describes the ascended Christ as having eyes like a flame of fire and feet like burnished bronze. Revelation 1:16 describes His face as
the sun shining in its strength.
Imagine that visual for a minute. Jesus’s face like the sun shining in its strength. Following these magnificent other worldly descriptions of Jesus, we’re told that Jesus, the Son of God, says this,
“I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first,, but I have this against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”
Yes, Jesus is the Good Shepherd and He is slow to anger, but we must never forget that He is also the Son of God reigning in glory. He sees our deeds and what we tolerate that is against Him. Is there anything we need to repent of before we ask Him for His continued blessings?
Lord Jesus, SON of GOD, forgive us for tolerating what You hate.
Do You Wish You Had More Support
Do you ever wish you had more support at work? Perhaps you wish you had support parenting your children. Or, you may wish you had a supportive spouse or friend. I remember a night long ago when I realized that God was my support. I was in a position where no one could help me. It wasn’t that they wouldn’t. It was that I had to go through something by myself. I was lonely and didn’t know what to do. It was just God and me. During that time I found that I wasn’t without help. God was with me. He was my support. As 2 Samuel 22:19 says,
They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my Support.
If you’re looking for support today and don’t have it, it can be lonely. In some cases, terrifying. In reality, though, you do have support. You may be at a time in your life like I was – where God is allowing you to get to a new place with Him, a deeper place, a more real relationship. Jesus is not causing your loneliness, rather He is there for you in it. Remember, if anybody knows what it’s like to go through something alone, He does. If anyone knows what it is to be misunderstood, it’s Him. When you pray you’re talking to a friend who loves you and can appreciate what you’re going through. I guess that’s why Jesus went away by Himself to pray early in the mornings – to get his thoughts straightened out while talking to his Father. If you’ve been blessed with a father or someone you’ve been able to talk things over with, then you know how helpful it can be to talk things out. That’s the same relationship you can have with your Heavenly Father. Just start talking like you would to a trusted person. Now here’s the key we often overlook. Have your Bible and a notepad and pen close by. When Jesus brings thoughts or a verse to your mind, jot them down. Think deeply on the verse. Act on what he brings to mind. Be assured that if David found the Lord to be supportive, you can find him to be supportive, too.
Lord, thank You for being our support. When no one else is there, or even if they are, You are the ultimate support we need.
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