Thursday Devotional - God is With Us in Our Desperation

When was the last time you cried out to God in desperation? 

There have been numerous times I have cried out in desperation, whether it was for the salvation of someone, the healing of a relative, parenting wisdom in a crisis, or while caught in a terrible storm driving or running or climbing Pike’s Peak.

Sometimes it might seem like God isn’t listening, but He always hears and has a plan, just like when the Canaanite woman desperately called out to Jesus to heal her daughter.

Matthew 15:22-28          “A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him [Jesus], crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’ Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ The woman came and knelt before him. ‘Lord, help me!’ she cried. He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’ ‘Yes it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.”  Matthew 15:22-28

Jesus used this time of desperation in the woman’s life to teach her, the disciples and us today some valuable lessons. So, the next time you and I are desperately crying out to God for help, let’s remember He may have several lessons for us to learn as we await His answer. He isn’t ignoring us, but there with us!

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us in Our Doubts

Sarah was devastated last Friday! We found out her desk-mate at school came down with Covid, which meant she couldn’t go on the mini weekend trip we had planned as a family. After praying for wisdom, Joe and I decided he could still take the other 3 kids. I told Sarah we could plan some fun things at home together, but she doubted we would have as much fun. However, towards the end of the weekend she declared it was like we were on Mackinac Island! I was shocked and praised God for answering my prayers beyond my expectation!

God is with us in our doubts, disappointment and discouragement.

Matthew 14:25-33 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

²⁷ But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Jesus graciously handled the disciples’ doubts. He can graciously handle our sincere questions and doubts, too. In fact, like with Peter, He can pick us up when we fall on our face due to our own doubts.

In what situation have you and I taken our eyes off Jesus and lasered in on the present circumstances? He’s ready to pick us back up as we turn our focus back to Him.

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us as We Live Among Wickedness

 Wickedness abounds in our world. I don’t have to consume very many news articles to come to that conclusion. It’s on a global scale and among small circles of people. Last night Sarah shared how a teammate at gymnastics continues to speak cruelly (so Sarah emphatically told her to stop).

All this isn’t a surprise to God. Jesus said over and over this is how life would be here – the righteous living side-by-side with the wicked. Some of Jesus’s parables in Matthew 13 draw the same picture.

Matthew 13:47-50 ⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

God will bring justice in the end. Until then, believers will share the same lake with the wicked. We will both die physical deaths, but eternity will be vastly different!

When you and I are overwhelmed by the wickedness around us, lets review and cling to God’s eternal promises! Feel free to share some below.

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us in our Search for Understanding

A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out a customer request, but their question wasn’t clear. Fellow co-workers even had different thoughts on what the customer meant. After lots of research and re-reading the customer email a dozen times, I suggested we ask the customer for further clarification.  

Similarly, when the disciples were confused by Jesus’s teaching, they went to Him for understanding (instead of making assumptions based on their limited understanding).

Matthew 13:1-3, 10-15         That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed…¹⁰The disciples came to him [Jesus] and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” ¹¹He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹²Those who have will be given more, and they will have an abundance.  As for those who do not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables: …¹⁴In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. ¹⁵For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’”       Matthew 13:1-3, 10-15

As the disciples went to Jesus with their questions, He gave them greater understanding! He can do the same for you and me! If we start with a small understanding of God and DO use it, apply it, and seek to understand more, He will give us an abundance of His secrets (knowledge of Him, His purposes, and His wisdom)!!! On the flip side, though, if we don’t ever use it, apply it, or seek to understand more, Jesus says even what we already know and understand will be taken away (verse 12).

In the New Year, how will you and I set aside time to seek greater understanding of God’s secrets? He is ready and waiting to give us that next layer!

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us In and Sometimes Causes Our Storms

Some storms in life are not a result of sin and evil in the world, but a test from God.

I’ve read or heard the story of Jesus calming the storm numerous times. In pondering it again this week, several things stood out to me.

Matthew 8:24-27        ²³ Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. ²⁴ Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

²⁶ He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

²⁷ The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

Suddenly a furious storm came! Not just a little rain or a few waves. It seems God caused the impossible storm to test the faith of the disciples. I wonder if they did all their fisherman tricks before they finally woke Jesus. Did they not think God would protect His Son until the appointed time? He wouldn’t let him drown and die prematurely.

I thought about the various storms in my life right now. Of course, I’ve prayed about all of them. I know God can grow me through them, but I hadn’t thought about Him intentionally putting any of them in my life. In addition to desperately seeking His wisdom, I’m now asking for greater trust, faithful perseverance and peace, no matter the outcome.

How might all this change your prayers as you face the storms in your life?

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us In the Rain

A couple of weeks ago my Mom, kids and I were walking in our neighborhood. It sprinkled and then stopped. We thought about calling my Dad to pick us up, but we figured we had time to finish our loop before more rain came. Then, it poured! We got drenched!!! We wished we had called Dad. Everyone wanted a warm shower once we got home!

What if we had been stuck in the rain indefinitely? I can’t imagine! However, that’s how it is for those who don’t take God and His Word seriously. They don’t have any hope through the storms of life. They also have no one with whom they can truly depend or call.

Matthew 7:24-29          ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

God is available to be with us before, during and after the storms of life. He has also generously given us His Word full of life’s instructions and promises. What Scriptures are you clinging to right now as you go through some “rain?”

Alice  

Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us In Our Worry

 

Has the Pandemic increased worry??? Yes!

Even among Christians? Yes!

Should it? No!

 

Even when things seem in chaos, God is still in control. In fact, He knows each one of our needs before we do!

Matthew 6:25-34 ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God is with us in our worry. We can give it over to Him because He already knows what we need, how best to provide for it, and what the end result will be. I can’t change anything by worrying, except decrease my own mental health and increase my stress! I can ask God for wisdom on how to face the worrisome situation and then listen for His guidance. He’s with me and has the best solution!  

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us When We're Afraid

Have you ever been really scared, all alone in the dark?

When I lived alone, I came home late one night from Bible study and found my back door open. I was paralyzed in fear. Staying in my car, I prayed and tried calling various family members and friends. No one answered their phone. Then, I prayed again, knowing God is always available and there with me. 

In a state of continual prayer, I scoured the house looking in all the closets, behind every door and under the beds. Finding no one, it appeared I must not have closed the door securely and it blew open. It was quite scary, but I was comforted knowing God was with me no matter what.

Joseph and Mary were in the dark and probably in a greater state of fear much longer than me! Their journey to Egypt was over 100 miles and started in the dark.

Matthew 2:13-16 “When they [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”   Matthew 2:13-16

God didn’t remove the threat or the fear, but He was with them and directed them through it.

What is your greatest fear right now? Will you and I take comfort knowing God is with us? He has a plan for us, and His plans can’t be stopped. He will give us direction when we’re afraid.

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us When We're Frustrated

 After all the tragedies of Genesis 34, Jacob listened and turned to God. He recognized God had been with him all the time, through his frustrations, hardship and tragedies. He chose to turn towards God instead of further away.   

Genesis 35:2-3 ² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.

Thankfully, I haven’t been through all that Jacob experienced. However, sometimes the small things in life can really frustrate or stress us. I wouldn’t say that’s often the case for me, but this week it was! After the first week of school, the kids snagged a terrible cold (definitely not COVID, with both testing negative). It meant being even more home-bound, than our new COVID normal. James also developed bad asthma, as he normally does with a cold. It meant numerous asthma treatments, horrible non-stop coughing, nightly wake-ups, etc. We also tried to keep the twins healthy, playing separately (and masked if in close quarters). I was praying each day for wisdom, but getting angry quickly about lots of “small” things.

Two nights ago, Joe and I just stopped and had a longer and more intentional time of prayer. God didn’t immediately remove all the frustration, but He did provide peace. We know He’s with us through it and will guide us as we listen. Yesterday, God gave me a better attitude, even though some things got worse and not better.   

God is always with us, available and ready to help.

What frustration or stress is wearing you down?

Will you take it to God and let Him walk through it with you?

Nothing is too big or too small for Him!

Alice

(a good moment in the midst of the illnesses...)

Thursday Devotional - God is with us when we're doing "firsts"

Sarah often reminds us “God is with you.” In fact, it came up several times the past couple of weeks as many of us faced several “firsts.” We even spoke Sarah’s own words back to her!

The night before the first day of school, Sarah cried as we tucked her into bed. She was nervous to start 1^st grade, thinking it would be quite a bit more difficult than kindergarten. We had already prayed about the first day of school, but she was still nervous and needed the reminder that God was with her. We also reassured her that it would be review at first and then layers of new concepts with a gradual increase in difficulty. I admitted that I understood her apprehension, as I was always nervous for the first day of school!

The next morning we asked Sarah how she was feeling. She shared she was feeling better, especially after she had prayed more on her own in her bed. Then, after school, she said her day was “very very good!”

Later that same week, Sarah was nervous for a little competition she had. Alexis chimed in right away with Sarah’s own advice saying “you don’t need to be afraid, because God is with you and will protect you!” I did jump in to clarify that God doesn’t always protect us the way we expect or give us the outcome we want, but He is certainly always with us. We can always trust God to help us accomplish His purposes.

Psalm 73:23-26  Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

What “firsts” are you facing this week, this month, or this year? I pray you not only know God is with you, but feel His strong presence as you embark on what He’s planned for you.  

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Faithful and Right

I’m back! A huge “thank you” to Renae for faithfully, creatively and thoughtfully writing inspiring Thursday devotionals these past 11 months!

It’s been quite a whirlwind of a year! Not only did adding two more children multiply time on meals, baths, laundry, and numerous other things, but I came back to one of the most stressful tax seasons ever. Apparently, it’s still not over, as we have a 2020 update coming out for the Ida disaster relief! 

Anyway, the Lord faithfully helped us through and enabled us to face one day at a time. It’s usually a good thing we don’t know what lies ahead. 😊

Our family memory verse for last week was:

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

This life doesn’t always go smoothly or how we would like, but we can trust everything the Lord says and does. He will be faithful to enable us to do what He’s asked us to do.

The adoption was another fiasco. Packets of paperwork had to be redone several times for various mistakes, pushing the adoption further and further out. Then, we sat, waited and participated in what we thought was the final  adoption hearing, but it had to be completely redone over a month later! In the midst of all the frustration, I kept clinging to God’s Sovereignty, knowing He would still work His plan and accomplish His purposes because He is trustworthy, even when people aren’t.

Another verse we learned this summer was Isaiah 43:1 I have called you by name, you are mine. I’m His, and so are Joe, James, Sarah, Edmund and Alexis! The twins are also finally legally Reas, with official paperwork from a few weeks ago!!!

God is faithful and right, all the time!

How will you cling to these truths this week in your own circumstances?     

Alice

When We Don't Ask

 

Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel.  I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!  And I will provide a homeland for my people Israel, planting them in a secure place where they will never be disturbed. Evil nations won’t oppress them as they’ve done in the past, starting from the time I appointed judges to rule my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.  2 Samuel 7:8-11

Loretta (my wife) and I had been having some struggles on how to best get our daughter to focus a bit more on her schoolwork as she had started to get lax.  As such, she had been faithfully praying over it as I had been.  It had been a while since I went to God with great despair and concern.  I felt that I had been pushing what I wanted more than I should and needed to ‘let go and let God.’

There is something about just meditating on letting God handle things.  It is like a sacred trust, and while we as followers of Jesus Christ know God’s word is true, there are times I might wander into the ‘God, are you really with me on this’ territory.  So, I just said the things I knew were true in my heart.  I prayed, “God, I want things to be better as you would want them to be.  I can’t do this.  Guide me to do what you see is right.”  That is where I left it.

The next day, God gave me a hint to give my wife something.  So, I sent her some money using my cash app with a little note saying, “Because sometimes, you shouldn’t have to ask.”  Later in the day, our daughter came to me, and we had a good long talk about school.  We had not talked like this all year.  Later that evening, our daughter came to us distraught about her heart being broken by a dear friend, and for the first time in a while, my wife and me were lock and step each moment of the conversation supporting her.  Had my daughter and me not had our long talk prior to then, she probably would not have talked to us at all.  It then occurred to me how we serve a God who not only meets our needs but also anticipates it even before we ask.  I am always amazed how God provides beyond what I ask for.

God’s provisions always exceed expectation.  I was reading today’s verses with an understanding of how God was so generous to King David.  Whether it had been a bear, lion, giant, or king, God always had David’s back often more than he would deserve.  I don’t believe when David slayed Goliath he did so with the expectation of becoming the greatest king of Israel.  He just wanted to do God’s will, and that is precisely the point.  David was not given God’s provision because it was what he wanted.  It was given because he loved God and was obedient to Him.  Thus, God provided for David despite his imperfections and as written in one article, “legendary indiscretions.”  God did not just give David victories or make him king.  He exceeded saying “Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!”  That’s well beyond what David asked for and a reminder to us how giving God truly is.

The omniscience of God is beyond anything we could possibly comprehend.  A preacher once told me about prayers that even when our prayers our poor, God intercedes with the Holy Spirit to strengthen them for what is truly needed.  This should give us assurance that when we pray to Him, we can be certain God not only hears us but also will answer.  Even when the answer is not what we would have wanted, we must trust that God is providing for us in a way we did not anticipate.  Let us remember that like with David, God always has our back.  Where has God provided for you in unexpected ways?  How can you be more thankful for Him in times when the answer seems to be ‘No?’  My prayer is we are always thankful for the completeness of God’s provisions even when we don’t ask.  Amen!

Are You With Me?

 

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
Fear not, for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’  Psalm 41:9-10 (NKJV)

 

My mom and I spent a year in Boston while she was finishing her Masters degree.  She was often sick that year, and while she was finishing a major paper from a hospital bed, I would go home alone to study and rest.  It was not that I did not have people to watch over me.  In fact, several friends would stop by our apartment to just check in on me to ensure everything was alright.  One might suspect that at times I might have had a level of loneliness.  That was not the case at all.  I always felt my mom was there with me, and I behaved as such.  My faith was not as big to me then as it is now.  Today with children and grandchildren, there never seems a moment when I’m alone, but at times when it is late at night and I am trying to figure out what to write in my devotion, there can be a sense of loneliness.  “God?  Are you with me,” I say to myself?  I know He is there.  But it is a subtle reminder of where my focus is for that moment.  I could be watching the game or an episode of one of my favorite shows, but as I have previously written, sometimes you have to tune out the noise around you so that you can focus on God.  The simple utterance of the words, “Are you with me,” ensures for that moment, my focus is truly and exclusively on Him.

It is good for us to take time out to focus on God’s presence in our lives.  I love these verses in Psalms because of how reassuring it is, and while it is easier to understand using the New Living Translation, I preferred the New King James because it both read like a poem and felt more personal.  No matter how far we may seem, God is there, and we are His most prized possession.  We have no reason to be afraid or discouraged.  When we are weak, God will strengthen us, and when we are weary, He will hold us up.  These two simple verses cover so much ground.  Even when we think we are, we are never truly alone.  David prefaced this in the 23^rd Psalm saying, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4a NKJV) This reassurance is invaluable in times where we might be on a solo mission.  When no one believe in you, God does.  He is there to help, talk, guide, instruct, and strengthen.

There are no boundaries that can withstand God’s pursuit of us.  This leaves us with a very simple question.  Why would we ever feel alone?  If we have an authentic and loving relationship with Him, we would not.  So if you are lost or just wondering, remember the old African hymnal:

No, never alone!  No, never alone!  He promised never to leave me, Never to leave me alone!

Never Alone (Unknown)

What is driving your feelings of loneliness?  What void of abandonment can Jesus fill today and beyond?  My prayer is that we know God is with us, and reassure ourselves as much by simply asking God, “Are you with me?”  Amen.

A Chosen Friend

 

I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.  When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.  I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!  This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.  You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.   John 15:9-16

My wife is my best friend.  We have lots of fun together.  We fight and argue.  We have had nights where I slept on the couch, and a few where she put me there.  Deservingly.  I will never forget how we started dating.  We worked together at Burger King, and she asked me out.  Well let me rephrase that.  She told me I was going to take her out for her birthday.  I do not remember having an option in the matter.  The funny thing was I had to cancel the date because I was forced to work that night.  She was so mad!  I promised to make it up to her and be her date at the company’s Christmas party.  That was December 23, 1983.  We dated off and on for twelve more years before we got married.  We have three children and soon to be nine grandchildren.  Our lives are filled with joy and lots of love.  I am forever grateful that she chose me to take her out, and happy she graciously accepted to be my wife.  But if you let her tell you, she will say she ‘let’ me marry her.  As the years have passed, I realize how special it was that she chose me.  It gave me context to understand how it is equally as special to know I did not just choose to be a follower of Christ.  He first chose me as He has chosen each of you.

We are all chosen by Christ as His friends.  In today’s verses, my initial inclination was to be drawn to the middle, where Jesus talked about the greatest love of one laying down their life for their friends.  Of course, this was a precursor to the crucifixion.  However, reading the whole paragraph delved into not only a much deeper love Jesus had for His disciples but also the love He wished for them to show each other and the world.  It was a selfless (lay down one’s life), submitting (do what I command), freeing (I no longer call you slaves), and trusting (a master doesn’t confide in his slaves) kind of love.  Reading these verses give us a clear indication of what a healthy and loving relationship is like.  But first, it requires a choice.  I never really caught onto the part about Jesus choosing the Apostles.  This is truly significant because remember in Mark 1:17, Mark 2:14, and John 1:39, 46, He asked them to ‘follow’ or ‘come.’  We often believe that we found God and are grateful we were given a new life to follow Him.  But the real prize is realizing that He chose us first!  This fact is amazing to me, and we know this to be true because David spoke of such saying:

You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!  Psalm 139:16-18

We are never separated from the love of God if we choose to follow Him.  Last week, I spoke of how God delights in us.  Today, we are to rejoice in how God loves us.  It is complete and without fail.  I now understand how Israel Houghton wrote in song, “I am a friend of God.  He calls me friend.”  Jesus said it.  Before we said ‘yes’ to Him, He chose us!  Whenever you begin to doubt your place or situation, never forget this.  What in your friendship with God needs repair?  How can you befriend someone as Jesus befriended you?  My prayer is that we remember that we did not just choose God as our savior.  He chose us as a friend.  Amen.

More Than Enough

 And forgive us our debts, 

As we forgive our debtors.  Matthew 6:12 

What is the most difficult thing to forgive?  Is it betrayal?  Perhaps it is the transgressions of a close friend who turns out to not be a friend at all.  Maybe it is dishonesty.  Or it could be someone who either fails a loyalty test or does not follow through on their solemn obligations.  There is a list of many things that we could spend an entire devotion talking about.  However, I want to share my greatest challenge.  I read something that reminded me of this, and the more I thought about it, the more I find it to be true.  A marriage is a perfect union made perfect by God between two imperfect people.  Well I must admit that my wife is far closer to perfection than I am.  But here is the thing.  She would tell you that I am a wonderful husband and father.  I’m humbled that she thinks so highly of me.  It is not because I do not try hard, and I don’t know saying I am not good to her.  But to me, being good to her is not enough.  Not because she or anyone else says so.  But I do.  You see the most difficult thing for me to forgive is myself.  When I fail, I do not fail just me.  I fail her.  My family.  My loved ones.  When I did, it was the guilt I carried, and until being born again, I was convinced would define me down until my death.  Then I learned that we all fall short of God’s glory, and if I confessed my sins, I could be born again.  We all know that story.  But for some, the pain remains, and it never has gone away.  This is because we have not truly accepted God’s second greatest gift; His grace. 

God wants us to forgive ourselves as well.  An easy way to connect the dots would be to look to the Greatest Commandment, where Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39b) This to me is truly the Greatest commandment because it forces us to focus not only on God and others but also ourselves.  We our only capable of loving others as far as we love ourselves.  In today’s verse, the focus is on the portion of the Lord’s Prayer asking God for forgiveness of our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  We must love our neighbor and God, and to do so we must certainly love ourselves.  Thus, it makes perfect sense that in order for us to have the ability to forgive we too must fully embrace God’s grace given to us.  To do so, we must agree that indeed His grace is sufficient.  Then, we must forgive ourselves.  Before we go over the deep end of ‘that’s easy enough,’ one must truly repent, and that is indeed painful.  In reading 2 Corinthians 7, we get a full feel for what a true repentant heart sounds like.  Paul wrote addressing the sins of the young church saying: 

 I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while.  Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way.  For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.  2 Corinthians 7:8-10 

Note the last verse where Paul spoke of ‘worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance.’ As I wrote about my inability to forgive myself, it is a pain that is never forgotten.  But the pain God wishes for us to have is the kind that reminds us to not go back to our old ways but to also accept the gift of His grace which leads to eternal salvation.  Thus, we are not to be consumed by this pain.  It is but a wound that will heal, and we are free from it.  It is that which we are given forgiveness, which allows us to forgive both others and equally as important ourselves. 

 

We must always remember that God is simply enough.  His provisions are infinite, and His love is limitless.  His knowledge is without limit, and His presences is all around us.  With a God so awesome, why in the world would we ever tell Him, “No.  I’m sorry, but that is not enough.”  If God gives us the amazing gift of His grace, how can we continue life as if we still have the burden of that which He forgave us for?  Let us focus our attention on releasing the guilt of our old sinful ways and embrace the New Life provided for us through His mercy.  What in your past holds you from committing fully to God today?  Will you surrender it to Him?  My prayer is that we simply remember God’s grace is more than enough for all of us.  Amen.