Walking With Jesus

Broken But Deeply Loved

“Long ago the Lord said to Israel: ‘I have loved you, My people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself.” (Jeremiah 31:3 NLT)

Love is hard. It’s hard to give, but sometimes even harder to receive. Why do you think that is? Perhaps the Prophet Jeremiah was on to something when he wrote: “For My people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me – the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”

What rich imagery describing the plight of mankind in 2025. How ignorant we are of the simple, yet profound truth that God loves us. We desperately need love, yet we’re too stubborn to see it, but the Lord keeps reaching, seeking, extending His grace to each of us. His living water is flowing, but our broken lives can’t hold it. What are we to do?

Perhaps the answer lies in our willingness to see God’s love for us personally. What if rather than seeing or hearing God’s Word say: “For God so loved the world,” we saw it and read it, “For God so loved ME!”

We carry so much baggage it’s hard to raise our head enough to view the face of the Master as He hangs on the Cross. We know and realize, at least intellectually, that He died for the world. But it’s not until we can see in His holy, pain-filled face, His love for ME! His agonizing sacrifice for ME! It’s not until we can finally view that Cross and say: For ME! that it will finally “click,” finally begin to make sense that I should put my trust in Him and yield my life and allegiance to Him.

Paul declares in Romans 3:24: “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People (YOU and me) are made right with God when they (You and me) believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood (in OUR place).”

Jesus didn’t deserve to be on that Cross – you and I DID! He took our rightful place, the place we deserved to be to die for our sins, the very sins that nailed Him there. Hell is real. Jesus talked about Hell more than He talked about heaven.

Whether the descriptions are literal or figurative is immaterial. The point is, hell is separation from God, the God who has made a way for us to be saved, forgiven, to escape hell and find a place in heaven. To miss heaven is a mistake. It’s just plain dumb. It’s like offering a starving person food, but they refuse to eat. Yes, maybe they’re at the point of needing intravenous feeding, but the point is the same – COME TO JESUS!

If you want to die, I get it. Been there. But what I didn’t understand was that I was already dead in my sin. What I was feeling was designed by God to help me understand my desperation without Him. Once I gave my life to Jesus, He freed me from the penalty of my sin, not only eternal hell, but the hell I was living with on this earth.

Jesus is a lot of things, but He’s not a liar. He only tells the truth. He didn’t have to do what He did, but volunteered because He knew if He didn’t die in our place there would be no other way for us to be forgiven and given the new life necessary to qualify us for heaven.

Like me, you are broken without Jesus. Let Him mend your brokenness today. Please, I implore you, come to Him today. Find the peace for which you’ve been searching. Put an end to your misery by saying “yes” to Jesus!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Secret of Joy

“’Why are you frightened?’ He asked, ‘Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at My hands. Look at My feet. You can see that it’s really Me. Touch Me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.’ As He spoke, He showed them His hands and His feet. Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then He asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’” (Luke 24:38-41 NLT)

So many questions are answered in these few verses, but since our focus is joy, let me make a few observations. We tend to think of joy simply as an emotion, yet these disciples had fear and doubt (vs 38), disbelief and wonder (vs 41), but were still “filled with joy.” Their emotions were on high alert, but in spite of several negative feelings, they were still able to experience an inner certainty that what they were seeing and experiencing was real and life-transforming.

As I understand it, joy is a revelation, an attitude, a decision to respond to a given circumstance in a positive, affirming way. It’s what happens when you hear things like: “It’s a healthy girl/boy!” “The results of your cancer tests are all negative!” Yes, of course, you’re happy, but it’s so much more than an emotion. It’s a peace in your soul that something is very right, and God is the Author of it.

We sometimes wrongly surmise that if we only had a different spouse, job, physical body (looks), felt better physically, emotionally, or had more money (a better financial situation), or could just be ANYPLACE except where we are, we’d have joy! We might be happier for a few seconds, but none of those things would necessarily give us joy.

Elisabeth Elliot was right when she wrote: “The secret of joy is Christ in me, not me in different circumstances.” The fact is, joy isn’t a secret at all, it’s a decision. We can have just received incredibly bad news, be having excruciating pain, be stranded on the side of the road in an ice storm and have no cell phone service, be falling from an airplane and our parachute not open, but we can still have joy if we know Jesus. He is the reason for our joy.

As evidenced in the verses above, we can experience many positive emotions and not have joy, or many negative emotions and still have joy. Joy isn’t initiated or denied by outside circumstances, it’s governed by an internal confidence that the Lord is ultimately in control and my life is in His capable hands.

It’s helpful to know that the Lord doesn’t allow any circumstance, good or bad, to enter our lives except it passes through the filter of His permission. Does that mean He causes everything? No, but He does allow it, but only if it will ultimately serve Him in the accomplishment of His divine and perfect purposes. His intentions for us are for good and ultimately the best good for any of us is Him.

What if my body is ravished with disease and I’m in constant pain? How does that honor God? IT doesn’t, but you do by how you manage the circumstances you have. If you’re constantly complaining and making everyone around you miserable, that doesn’t honor the Lord. However, if, like Paul and Silas after having been beaten severely and chained in a Roman prison, you can still sing, praise, and honor the Lord in your trial, that is a source of honor to the Lord and gives greater evidence of your love and dependence upon Him than all the days of your health.

Therein is the “secret” revealed of your joy and its true source.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Does Trust Really Matter?

“We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In Fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9 NLT)

Trust is critical in the day in which we live. It has always been vital, but today when a high percentage of that which we hear as “news” is regurgitated rhetoric it’s hard to know what is true and what is not.

That’s why it’s so important to know that the God we serve is a Person of honor and always tells and lives the truth. Jesus said of Himself that He is Truth, not only that He tells the truth, which He always did and does, but that He embodies in His person all that is true. What does that mean? It essentially means He is incapable of telling a lie or leading us to believe anything that is not in line, not only with what He teaches, but with who He is.

How does that translate for us, in terms of how we should live? We should be people of impeccable character. We should mean what we say and say what we mean. We should be personable, friendly, but not obnoxious, syrupy sweet, or overbearing in our “concern” for others. We should be real, transparent, but not always feeling like we have to spill our guts about ourselves in every detail.

We should have a genuine interest in others, but we shouldn’t be nosy or pry into matters that are none of our business. Be the kind of person you imagine Jesus would be if He were in your shoes, because, as a child of God, He is!

John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett (See BreakPoint News or Narrative? The Battle for Truth – 02-13-25) wrote: “If facts are imaginary and morality is determined by perspective, then society shouldn’t be surprised when, for many, it simply doesn’t matter whether what is said is true…Trust matters because truth matters, and vice-versa. Insisting on both is a way Christians can love God and their neighbors.”

How is telling the truth being loving to God and our neighbors? By being truthful we’re illustrating and upholding the truth of who God is, thus, loving them well by demonstrating in our relationship with them what the Bible teaches and reinforces what we tell them about the living God. It’s also loving because it enables them to put their trust in us which often is their first step in putting their trust in our Savior.

Authenticity of character and lifestyle are illustrations of godliness that are rare in the day in which we live. To find someone who actually does what they say they’ll do is beyond the norm and should be noted. If you tell someone you’ll call or text them, do it. If you set up a meeting with them, be early, watch for them and greet them warmly.

Let there be no shadow of deception or question of motive when it comes to our dealings with each other as believers or with others whether believer or non-believer. That’s one of the things that drew me to Jesus, I was able to see the consistency in my grandparents, uncles and aunts who professed love for the Lord. They were always kind, loving, caring, and inviting to me as a child and as an adult. They modeled Christian character and built in me a confidence that I could trust them and believe what they told me.

I want to be that kind of person, not only to honor their memory, but to bless my heavenly Father. Why? Because trust matters.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Certainty Before Surrender

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Psalm 26:3 NLT)

What is it about humans that demand certainty before we move forward with or for God? “Show me a sign!” seems to be the cry of our heart before we obey God. Isn’t faith itself our certainty? Isn’t implicit in trust a settled sense of certainty?

Ray Majoran‘s beautiful prayer expresses this sentiment when he writes: “Almighty God, the One who stills the storm and whispers in the wind, You are not a God of chaos but of peace. You hold all things together, even when the world sways and shifts. The frost does not question the morning sun, nor do the trees strain against the mist. They simply exist in the balance You have set. Yet we resist the stillness. We strive, we wrestle, we demand certainty before surrender.

“Stillness and Hope” Keith Miller “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

Please refine us, Lord. Make us into people who trust in what is unseen more than what is immediate. A weaned child does not thrash in fear but rests in the presence of their mother. Let our souls be as steady in You. Strip away our obsession with control and our hunger for signs. Break our dependence on what is fleeting, and grow us in what is eternal. You have promised to keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is fixed on You (Isaiah 26:3). Let that promise not just be words we recite but a reality we embody. May our confidence be in who You are, not in how much we understand. Help us to yield to Your voice.”

What if rather than questions, our immediate response to the Lord’s directives became: “Yes, Lord!” When the Lord directs us to make a call, give an apology, right a wrong, pray for someone, invite someone to a meal, stop a habit, develop a new habit – whatever it is, what if our response was an immediate: “Yes, Lord!”

And, of course, I realize there may be questions or clarifications needed, but those come after our obedient heart is surrendered to the Lord’s will, not before. We want all of our questions answered before we surrender to the Lord’s will, as if we believe we have a choice. Choice belongs to those who haven’t yet yielded their will to the Master’s.

Surrender demands clarity of only one thing – Who is Lord? Us or Jesus? When it’s clearly and forever determined that Jesus is Lord and we are not, every other question is answered, at least those related to our obedience. Jesus said in John 10:27: “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” The clear implication here is – His voice is heard, His sheep respond immediately.

Implicit in our surrender to the Lordship of Jesus is a willingness to allow our will to be conformed to His; our desires to become His desires; our heart’s longings to be found and fulfilled in submission to His heart’s desires for us. Why would we do that? Because He alone knows what’s eternally best for us. We can’t see beyond our own desires, our own longings for self-fulfillment, self-expression, self-exaltation.

So, to place our trust in Christ for eternal life in Him alone by faith alone, we give ourselves fully, without reservation. Jesus then becomes the Master, Owner, and shot-caller in our lives. I didn’t always understand this. I used to think I still had a say in how my life was to be managed, but not until I turned complete management of my life over to the Lord did I finally understand what peace was, what contentment was, what surrender really was. The kind of surrender that results in full certainty.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Outcomes

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” (Proverbs 9:10 NLT)

The knowledge upon which the foundation of our lives is built will determine to a large extent the outcomes of the issues with which we wrestle as a human being. What we believe about God or anything else is only as good as the information we’ve been given about Him or any other subject.

Say, for example, that I’ve asked you to build me a shed for my back yard. It must fit into a very specific area, so, if it’s too wide, too high, or too deep – if any of those dimensions are off, it won’t work.

Similarly, the Lord has outlined in His Word the “dimensions” He requires for our lives to fit into His plan. He begins, as Jesus explained in Matthew 22:37, with: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” In short, with every dimension of our being.

How does that translate for us? It essentially means to love the Lord with our time, money, energy, relationships, with our work, our recreation, our family, in short, every avenue of our lives. There isn’t an exception. To pretend to love God and believe that doesn’t have implication and application to every avenue and dimension of our life is to misunderstand “all” as it’s used in Jesus’ words.

The word Jesus used means “all, whole, every whit, altogether, throughout, completely.” Yet, we want to live as we please and justify it by asking for forgiveness or going to church or being nice to the clerk at the grocery store or in a thousand other little ways we think will somehow make up for our neglect of loving the Lord without reservation.

We sow “self” and want to “reap” Christ-likeness; we want to live as we please and expect our crumbs to be acceptable to a Holy God. We aren’t enough in and of ourselves. If we were Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die in our place. Our sin separates us from God and prevents our outcomes from being pleasing to God.

Corky Calhoun wrote: “The outcomes of our horizontal circumstances in this world, hinges solely upon our vertical relationship with the God who created it in the first place.” How I understand that is what we sow, we’ll reap; to the extent we love, honor, and obey the Lord, He will sanctify our efforts and bless our outcomes.

For example, if my efforts to reach my neighbors are simply to gain recognition and “glory” for myself, I may make a few friends, but it will have no eternal benefit, for me or for them. However, if everything I say or share with them is first approved of God and passed through the filter of His permission, I don’t have to be concerned with what my neighbors think of me, only what they think of Jesus.

It’s not my responsibility to be the Holy Spirit in my neighbors’ lives, I must trust God’s discretion in terms of how He speaks through what I say or write, and how He moves on their hearts to respond. The outcomes of whatever we do for the Lord or otherwise, are dependent upon the measure of dependence we’ve had on the Lord in the carrying out of whatever it was, whether a paper we write for school, an application we make for a job, or a sermon we preach for a congregation.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Denial or Fulfillment?

“Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling, and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.” (Romans 13:13-14 NLT)

When you suggest to your spouse: “Let’s go out for dinner!” Who are you really thinking about? If you’re the wife you may be thinking: “I just don’t feel like cooking!” Or the husband may be thinking: “I’m tired of leftovers!” And even as you think of the menu, whose meal are you thinking most about? Where am I going with this?

Typically, we’re the center of our own universe, so, even in the above scenarios, we’re usually at the heart of our “kind” offers. In the things outlined in the verses above, the options are more clearly defined in terms of what’s right and what’s wrong, but as believers in Jesus that’s not always the case is it? We, most often (and I’m giving us the benefit of the doubt here), want to do the right thing.

We really do want to avoid outward manifestations of sin, like those outlined in the verses above, but where we sometimes hit a snag is in the more personal preferences that we enjoy, like food, entertainment, even events and activities at church. Personal purity of body, mind, and spirit are sometimes compromised by our own desires to do and be what we want, not necessarily and always what the Lord wants or wants for us.

For example, something as fundamental as reading God’s Word on a regular basis can become a battle for us. There are lots of seasons in our lives when it can be hard to schedule and/or find 15-30 minutes of alone time to do ANYTHING! So, to be able to sit down in a quiet spot to read the Bible and speak with God is a relatively small thing that demands strategic planning.

Yet, in our haste to “do life,” it’s one of the things that’s most easily sidelined for more pressing issues. Why do you think that is? Could it be among the greatest issues with which we wrestle is the battle between self-denial and what we perceive as self-fulfillment?

Even in light of all the pressures we face from varying fronts – family, work, church, recreation, time with friends, etc. when it gets right down to it, too often we want what we want! At the end of the day, most of us are willing to do the obligatory things for which we feel responsible, but with what we consider “optional” time, we prefer to make our own decisions about that.

John MacArthur hit the proverbial “nail on the head” when he wrote: “The true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.” Do you think it was an easy choice for Jesus to allow Himself to be nailed to a cross. On some levels that was the easy part. The mocking, being spit on, flogged, having the skin ripped from His body by a lead-tipped whip would have produced pain anyone would have wanted to avoid.

Yet, He didn’t allow Himself to experience those things to benefit Himself, but us. We would benefit from following His example in times of choice when we have to decide how to invest the minutes the Lord has appropriated for us. Would to God we’d learn to deny ourselves and give Him first place, not only in our heart and mind, but in our schedules.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Worth

“The words of the godly are like sterling silver; the heart of a fool is worthless. The words of the godly encourage many, but fools are destroyed by their lack of common sense. The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” (Proverbs 10:20-22 NLT)

If someone asks you about your “worth,” where do your thoughts typically go? According to current statistics, Elon Musk has the greatest net worth of any other human being in the world, yet, I wouldn’t trade my life in Christ for his earthly assets.

As a follower of Jesus, we should and, on some levels, MUST see worth through the lens of the currency of heaven – love! “God so loved…!” Why is this so important? Because if we’re not careful, especially when we’re young, we’ll sell our soul to the devil and not even realize it. It’s not our intention; it just happens as a byproduct of our misguided ambitions.

To lust is not necessarily evil. In Romans 1:27 Paul uses a word for lust that is normal, like the desire for food or for sex with your husband or wife. Desire in those contexts is normal, but can be distorted and misused in ways that lead to sin. And yes, that’s true with sex and food.

But in Romans 7:7 Paul uses a different word for “lust” that has a completely different meaning and is a deliberate effort to gain or do something that is wrong. What’s my point? In some ways it doesn’t matter how we became the person we are, we are ALL sinful, lost, and stand spiritually bankrupt before a holy God and, if not for His love, would be bound for an eternal hell apart from Him and all that is good.

To casually pursue the things of the world as if that’s all there is, is to forfeit the riches of the Kingdom of God. Martin Luther wrote: “God doesn’t love us because of our worth, we are of worth because God loves us.” Does God not love Elon Musk because he has a large net worth? Of course God loves him as much as He loves me and you, but our worth in the sight of God isn’t determined by our material net worth, but by our love for Him.

When we begin to understand how much we can be when we yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, material possessions pale in comparison. I think of the man of whom Jesus spoke in His parable in Matthew 13:44: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.”

Make no mistake, Jesus IS the Treasure in the field, and, at least as it relates to us, Jesus IS the Kingdom of God. To pursue Him is to pursue God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God isn’t something material, it’s a relationship with a very real spirit Person who once had a body like ours but now has a body like the one He will give us in heaven.

Jesus further said in Matthew 12:35: “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.” What determines whether a person’s heart is good or evil? Jesus! If He lives in our heart, we’ll do good, but if He doesn’t, while we may be able to do some good things, the intent is always less than godly, thus evil.

In this season of life, whatever that looks like for you, seek the Lord Jesus with everything within you. Hold nothing back! Give Him everything you own, everything you are without reservation. That’s essentially what Matthew 6:33 means. When you find the Kingdom of God, you’ll understand your worth.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Our Deepest Regret

“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. Theres’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10 NLT)

Do you have regrets? I sure do, and, if I’d let them, they would eat me alive! I believe that’s what Paul is alluding to in the verse above. If we allow our heart and mind to settle on our regrets, we can get so focused on the past it can literally block all hope of a redeemed future.

Even as believers we can play the “if only” game. If only I’d done or said this or that. Or if only I hadn’t said or done this or that. The fact is WE DID do or say what we did or said, and NOTHING will ever change that! Yes, it hurts! Yes, it crushes us to believe we could ever have been that insensitive, careless, ungodly, unthoughtful, __________, and you can fill in the blank.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

There are times I can’t sleep for the tears that won’t stop because of the remembrance of past sins. How could I? Why didn’t I? How can I even call myself a Christian after having done THAT? Then, when I allow myself to escape my pity party, I realize what a mighty God we serve, that He casts our sin into the sea of His forgetfulness NEVER to be remembered against us again.

I’m reminded of the sins of Joseph’s brothers who almost killed him but then decided instead to sell him into slavery. He ended up in Egypt and served in different capacities as a slave, but so excelled because of God’s hand upon his life, he ended up second in command of all of Egypt AND the rescuer of his brothers when a famine hit. What’s my point? Our sin doesn’t have the final say – our Forgiver does!

Because God is all knowing and ever present, there’s no such thing to Him as past or present. He knew exactly what was going to happen to Joseph, and to me and you, and just as He was already in Egypt seeing Joseph’s slavery and working it to Joseph’s good and God’s glory, He saw our sin and where that sin would lead us, but He also saw us now, and, by His grace, He’s enabling us to see how He used the things we learned and the hurt it has caused us and others, to form us into the men and women of God we are today.

Recently I found a line from a poem or song I couldn’t trace, but it says: “The fall thou darest to despise could be the angels slackened hand has suffered it that he may rise and take a firmer surer stand, and trusting less to earthly things may henceforth learn to use his wings.”

Whatever heights the wings of God’s love allow and enable us to soar would not be as sweet and meaningful had we not realized the depths from which we, by God’s wonderful grace, have come. And please understand, I’m not just referring to the sin in which we wallowed before our conversion, but even those despicable words and deeds we’ve done since we professed life in Christ.

Perhaps it would be easier to forgive ourselves had we not known the love and forgiveness of our Savior, but the vileness of our words and deeds takes on a new horror in light of our professing faith. “How could you?” someone may cry, but their words can’t cut nearly as deeply as the cry of my (our) own heart when it cries – “How could I!”

It’s in the agony of those moments we catch glimpses of what the grace of God’s underserved love and forgiveness really mean.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Purifying Power of Prayer

“The angel of the Lord appeared to him (Gideon) and said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’” (Judges 6:12 NLT)

When the angel came to Gideon he was “at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites.” Gideon was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a “Mighty hero,” yet that’s exactly how the Lord saw him (Read Gideon’s story in Judges 6-8). Gideon’s power came through his trust in God and his dependence upon the reliability of his conversations with the Lord.

Gideon’s faith was a bit shaky at first and he relied on signs to strengthen his weak faith, but God saw potential that was worth His effort, so, the Lord responded and finally Gideon took the Lord at His word and obeyed Him, triumphing over the Midianites and becoming a Judge over Israel for 40 years.

Gideon’s example is important to me because I haven’t always had strong faith. Faith is a “spiritual muscle” that must be exercised and strengthened over time and Gideon shows us a picture of how the Lord will take us from the “winepresses” of insecurity and fear and lead us onto the spiritual “battlefields” of life, giving us victory over the evil one and building our confidence in the Lord our God.

Is your faith weak today? Is your prayer life lacking? The Lord is seeing you in your fear and weakness and is saying to you: “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” There are battles the Lord wants to train you to fight for your lost loved ones and friends, those in your spheres of influence who may never see their need of Jesus unless you intercede on their behalf, then boldly share your love for them and for Jesus with the courage only the Lord can give you.

Another very valuable lesson I believe the Lord is teaching us through Gideon is not only to do the right thing but do it for the right reason. God’s desire to make Gideon a mighty warrior wasn’t for Gideon’s glory or honor, but for His. That’s why he told Gideon to send thousands of would-be troops home, leaving him with only 300 men to fight an army of thousands. Not good odds if you’re a military strategist.

But when God is your Commander-in-Chief, you don’t question, you obey and that’s what Gideon did and that’s why he was so successful. Putting our priorities in order, including where we fit into the overall scheme of things, is a critical component to meaningful and effective prayer. To believe answered prayer should exalt us or give us stature with anyone but God, is to misunderstand the vital nature of prayer.

Prayer is a means of gaining and maintaining humility, not seeking to exalt ourselves in any way, but to exalt, honor, and glorify our King. That’s why prayer is NEVER about us, and only and always about the Lord. James MacDonald wrote: “Prayer is purifying – as you pray, you learn to want not just right things, but right things for right reasons.”

One of the beauties of prayer to me is that only the Lord knows, not only those for whom we’re praying, but why we’re so diligent in our intercession. Yes, of course, I tell you I pray for my family, friends, and neighbors, but you don’t know their names or their needs. You won’t know until (maybe) in eternity who the Lord saved, healed, or helped because of my prayers or yours, we may never know, but that’s not why we pray.

We pray to honor and glorify our Savior as He alone gets the credit for whatever He does in someone’s life because of our prayers. And to me, that’s the purifying power of prayer. It purifies our heart and gives power to our prayers. Thank You, Jesus!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Are You Worshipping?

“’These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” (Matthew 15:8-9 NLT)

These words from Isaiah 29:13 challenge me because every day I pour over words to share, most of which are channeled through my mind and heart, that I must believe are motivated and shared by the Holy Spirit. But how much is me? How many words are my words? Which ones should you believe and follow, and which ones should you ignore?

How words impact us is not only affected by those who wrote them, but also by the person who is reading them. For example, if the Holy Spirit is speaking through the words I write they should resonate with the Spirit of God in you that they are true. However, if the Holy Spirit is not motivating my thoughts and words, and/or if the eyes that read them aren’t led by the same Holy Spirit, confusion, misunderstanding, and wrong conclusions can be drawn.

It’s not unlike that when it comes to worship. I love music that helps me see and experience the Lord’s presence, but how much of what I’m “liking” is the Holy Spirit and how much is me? Have you ever heard or even said something like: “I just loved worship this morning!” Sometimes that says more about us than what happened during “worship.”

Worship isn’t an hour or so on a given day when we go to a building, sing and listen to someone speak. Worship is how we order our steps from day to day. It’s to whom we pay the homage of our being. Worship gives evidence of why we’re alive and to what or whom we credit our existence.

When I’ve been out, it may be for days, hours, or even minutes, my pups howl and bark like they’re really happy to see me when I come home. They wiggle all over as I speak to them, rub on them and kiss their little heads. Why do I do that? Because I love them, but I want to acknowledge their love for me. They can’t speak to me in words, so they have to use a means of communication that is meaningful to them, so they bark, wiggle, whine, and howl. And did I mention lick?

What’s the connection? Our worship, how we express to the Lord our love and devotion will, on some levels, be unique to the worshipper; however, there are common traits or characteristics that should be seen in every person who loves and worships the Lord God Almighty. Things like specific times and places we devote to only worship, not only corporately, but privately, which should lead to ongoing conversations through which our “schedules” are approved or changed according to the Lord’s directives.

But another key ingredient to worship is obedience. Jesus said in Luke 6:46: “So why do you keep calling Me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” We can call it whatever we wish, but when what Jesus says and what we do are two different things, that’s disobedience and it’s wrong.

Tim Keller wrote: “If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.” If everything you “sense” the Lord saying is affirming what you want anyway, be careful how you proceed. Our obedience is an act of worship and affirms, not only our allegiance and submission to the Lord’s authority in and over our lives, but our desire to honor and reverence Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊