Walking With Jesus

How Much Do You Love God?

“For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believed in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NLT)

Rick Warren shared this story in a recent devotion: “A while back, a man came into my office and said, ‘I’m a Christian, but I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere in my spiritual growth. I’m kind of stuck in neutral.’ I said, ‘What do you think the problem is?’ He said, ‘I think my problem is I just don’t love God enough.’ I said, ‘That’s not your problem. Your problem isn’t that you don’t love God enough. Your problem is that you don’t understand how much he loves you.”’

Love is always a response to love. The Bible says, ‘We love because he first loved us’ (1 John 4:19 NIV). When you say, ‘I don’t love God,’ it’s because you don’t understand just how much he really loves you.

In fact, God loved you even before he created the earth. The Bible says it like this in the Message paraphrase: ‘Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love’ (Ephesians 1:4).”

Any meaningful discussion of love must begin with God, who is the Author of love. John reminds us in his first letter: “God is love!” The Lord doesn’t have the capacity NOT to love. Everything He does flows from His love for His creation. Then why all the evil, sin, and terrible things that happen in the world? Because love doesn’t demand its own way! (1 Corinthians 13:4)

In the beginning love flowed freely between God, the Creator and all His creation, including mankind, but when the freewill of man chose to violate God’s love and disobey Him, all Hell broke loose – literally! Man decided he/she liked making their own choices rather than listening to God and that’s the short answer for why we’re in the mess we’re in today.

The only reason to ever question God’s love for us is because we don’t know Him, and the only reason anyone would choose to not love Him in return is because they don’t know Him. Trust grows out of relationship so, too often, to not know Him is to not trust Him, thus, to not sense His great love. If we’ll only stop to realize what a tremendous sacrifice He made for our salvation, the Spirit will help us open our heart to the gift of His life and love available to us through His Son, the Lord Jesus.

Some misunderstand why Jesus died and believe in some way God was punishing Him for something. Nothing could be further from the truth. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life, qualifying Him to be the only suitable sacrifice for our sin. God didn’t make Jesus come to earth and die in our place, Jesus believed it was an honor to sacrifice Himself – to voluntarily pour Himself into human flesh, to give humanity (me and you) the opportunity to see in human flesh who God is and how much He loves us.

Dying on the Cross wasn’t to pay the penalty for Jesus’ sin, He had none, it was for us, me and you, who had no way to be free of the penalty of the sin that plagued us and was dragging us to a sure eternity in hell, separated from God and His love. So, you see, it’s not about how much we love God, it’s that we must realize how much He loves us – enough to allow His only Son to die in our place, for our sin.

If you’re not feeling very loved, please don’t blame God. He’s done all within His power to open the floodgates of heaven and invite you in, but you must respond. Please click this highlighted link and allow Ron Hutchcraft to walk you through a simple, straightforward way to open your heart and life to the lover of your soul.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Radiance

“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT)

Who in your life bears the radiance of Jesus most effectively? Who, when you are in their presence, most reminds you of how you picture Jesus, of being in His presence? Who, upon the thought or mention of their name, almost automatically puts you in the presence of the Lord?

There have been and are people like that in my life and, I pray, in yours. The Lord blessed me with godly uncles and aunts, grandparents, Pastors and friends who exuded and exude the presence of Jesus in their countenance and behavior. That’s what I want in my life. How about you? But how? How can we radiate the presence and power of the Risen Christ in and through our life? And here’s the short answer – we can’t! Only the presence of Jesus can radiate the presence of Jesus. So, what am I saying?

Every born-again believer is filled with the Spirit of God or they’re not born again. How do I know that? Because Paul spells it out in Romans 8:9: “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.)”

Then why are not ALL born-again believers radiant for the Lord? My sense is they are on some level, but too often we let our personal emotions rise above the radiance of our Savior. We allow anger, frustration, worry, or other negative emotions crowd out the joy of the Lord in any given moment, but why? Sin!

If “the joy of the Lord is your strength,” as Nehemiah 8:10 clearly states, then what is preventing us from being strong in radiating the joy of Jesus in our families and among our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and everyone else with whom we have contact? Could it be our pride, or other selfish ambition that prefers others notice US more than Jesus? Perhaps, but another explanation is we don’t want to be perceived as some kind of “Jesus freak!” Someone who is so obsessed with Jesus we can’t be related to as a normal human being.

Herein lies the problem with that problem – Jesus wasn’t a “freak” and He was the most relatable human being to ever live. To bear the radiance of Jesus is to be contagious, drawing people to us, not pushing them away. It’s not a life that “preaches” Christ in a negative, pushy, arrogant, or condescending way, but lovingly accepts others where they are, and expectantly points them to a loving Savior who can help them become more than they ever dreamed they could.

When I was a small boy my Uncle Ed would hold me on his lap and exclaim to everyone in the room what a good boy I was. I was NOT a good boy, but I aspired to be after spending time with my Uncle Ed. Are people aspiring to be like Jesus because they spend time with me or you? That’s certainly our prayer! To allow the Holy Spirit to radiate His presence in and through us should be the aspiration of every believer, but here’s the kicker – we can’t force it, we can only lay ourselves before the Lord and allow it to happen. Radiance grows out of submission to the Spirit. We don’t MAKE it happen; we ALLOW it to happen!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When the Lord is Finished with Us

“But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear. And He rescued me from certain death. Yes, and the Lord will deliver me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into His heavenly Kingdom. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.” (2 Timothy 4:17-18 NLT)

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed amid heavy rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people, two of whom were never found. Why do I mention that? Because one year earlier I crossed that same bridge during that same season and at that same time of day. I sat on it while it swayed and shook under the load of bumper-to-bumper traffic. Still not sure why I mentioned it? Here’s why! On December 15, 1967, the day it fell, I was traveling from Anderson, Indiana to South Charleston, West Virginia on that same U. S. Route 35 for Christmas break from college, the exact same route I’d followed one year earlier.

The route that would have taken me across that bridge at that time. I could well have been on the Silver Bridge that fateful night; however, due to a friend who needed a ride, I took a different route that kept me off that bridge. Coincidence, or the hand of God? Another time I was driving late at night on what seemed to be wet streets when all of a sudden, though I wasn’t traveling at a high rate of speed, the car spun around, crashed through about a 2-3 foot high wall of snow that separated the lanes and launched me across two oncoming lanes.

When I came to rest, I was facing the same way I had been traveling but was off the road on the opposite side of the 4-lane road. Instinctively, I opened the door to assess any damage, only to hear the roar of the river passing several feet below, inches from where the car came to rest. Another foot and I would have been in that river having toppled down a 20-30 foot embankment. Coincidence or the hand of God?

What do these instances from my life have to do with anything? Quite a lot I believe. Obviously, I’m not unique in having what might have been “near death” experiences, but my point is, God has appointed to us a specific time to die and, as His child, we’re not going to die one second before that time. Why is that important to know? Because as long as the Lord has work for us, He’ll keep us around, but when the work is done or He sees we’re no longer interested in carrying out His work, we’re toast, we can go at any second.

When is our work done? Whenever He decides. Some people’s work is done at birth or before. One might think, “What a waste to have an infant die before birth,” but certainly not if their brief existence on earth, and their eternal life in heaven gave their parents, grandparents, or someone else in their life an incentive to come to Jesus. We don’t always know what our mission is, thus, we can’t know for sure when it’s complete. My calling was Pastoral Ministry, but my mission has extended far beyond my years of active Pastoring.

Don’t confuse your mission with your vocation, though they will likely be connected. The Lord has use for your gifts in multiple ways and can open doors of opportunity for you to be useful to Him on many levels. The Psalmist reminds us in 139:16: “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.”

Will the number of our days be completed today? Perhaps, it certainly will be for many, but the point is not to fret or worry about our end, the point is, be useful every second of every day until that end comes. Idleness is sin. We must be about our Father’s business until He decides it’s the end of our days.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Mamdani’s Fantasy of “Warm Collectivism”

By: John Stonestreet and Timothy D. Padgett

*Dear friends, for many reasons I’m choosing, at least in the immediate future, to intersperse more articles by other authors I have grown to love and appreciate. I’m continuing to write as the Lord gives me energy and inspiration but can’t keep up like I once could. Thank you for your prayerful understanding. I love and appreciate each of you who faithfully read these blogs. Please enjoy this timely message from the Colson Center. Blessings, Ed 😊

In an inaugural address delivered on New Year’s Day, Zohran Mamdani promised “to replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Social media quickly filled with memes that paired the quote with images of the victims of Nazi, Stalinist, and Maoist “warm collectivism.”

For all Mamdani’s disarming smiles, his choice of words was intentional. Regurgitating language from revolutionaries and ivory tower intellectuals, he is not attempting to hide who he is and what he plans to do. As he also said in his inauguration speech:

We will govern without shame and insecurity, making no apology for what we believe. I was elected as a Democratic Socialist, and I will govern as a Democratic Socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical.

Except, his principles are radical. In fact, as Al Mohler put it at World, they “come right out of the Marxist nightmare,” and we know how this dream ends. As Mohler continued, “It’s not that (his ideas) haven’t been tried; it’s that they have produced immeasurable human misery wherever they have been adopted.”

Either Mamdani doesn’t understand the history of his ideas, or he believes this time will be different. After winning the race on November 4, Mamdani declared, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” The comment reminded many what President Reagan once called “(t)he nine most terrifying words in the English language: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”

In fact, Mamdani sounds very much like another politician, who said, “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” That was Benito Mussolini.  At one time, it would have been problematic for an American politician to essentially sub-quote a Fascist dictator, but many younger Americans are ready to reconsider failed ideas of the past. According to a recent YouGov and Economist poll, nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 29 have a favorable view of socialism. Unsurprisingly, that demographic overwhelmingly turned out for Mamdani. 

A key factor is that many in the younger generation simply don’t know better. Their education has failed them. They’ve heard all about the evils of capitalism but not about the many killed attempting to escape socialist regimes or why the escapes only went one direction. They’ve been taught to fear the impending catastrophes of climate change, which is the fault of evil corporations, but not about the mass starvations, which resulted from the state controlling industry and agriculture. They’ve learned that socialism is about sharing; not that the sharing is often forced at gunpoint. They’ve learned that when socialism fails, it was done “wrong,” and that true socialism has never been tried. 

The truth about socialism is that it is inherently immoral. As Ben Shapiro put it a few years ago,  

Socialism is bad, because socialism is tyranny. Not it’s an aspect of tyranny. Socialism itself is tyranny. …The notion of socialism is that you don’t own your own freedom. 

The reason that oppression results every time socialism is tried is because it’s built into the system. Tyranny is not a bug of socialism. It’s a feature. 

This is because, according to a socialist vision, every element of society must either submit to the state, be stripped away or, “better” yet, made another arm of the state. The mediating institutions that Alexis de Tocqueville rightly observed as drivers of American liberty and prosperity—such as churches, schools, volunteer organizations, and families—must devolve under socialism into departments of government power. The state cannot fail. 

But the state does fail, and not just because of inefficiency. Ultimately, socialism is built on flawed anthropology. Socialists claim to be for “the People,” but it’s always for Humanity and never for humans. According to a socialist vision, the individual receives dignity from society, not the other way around. The individual with his or her unique insight, perspective, and preference becomes an existential threat to the grand socialist project.  Within a Christian worldview, dignity was given to individuals by God, who made them in His image. They bring dignity to the families, communities, and societies around them. They are not cogs in a government-sponsored wheel, nor are they problems for the state to solve. They are, to borrow from J.R.R. Tolkien, sub-creators who, given the freedom and chance to do so, will outperform any mass system that seeks to control them.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Every follower of Christ must decide who they will be and how they will live because crisis calls for courage.

Truth Rising will show you stories of ordinary people like you who chose courage over fear, making a difference right where God has called them. Let’s join them! 

Become a catalyst for renewal right where you are. Watch the film. truthrising.com/colson

When God Is Pleased

“So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I Am He. I do nothing on My own but say only what the Father taught Me. And the one who sent Me is with Me – He has not deserted Me. For I always do what pleases Him.’” (John 8:28-29 NLT)

It seems clear to me that Jesus found pleasure in the Father as the Father found pleasure in Him. It’s the proverbial mutual admiration society on steroids. Only God the Son knew fully and with complete understanding and appreciation the love and heart of the Father. And only as we have intimacy with the Son can we gain the right perspective and have a right appreciation of the heart of the Father.

It’s hard to please a father who is angry, vindictive, and mean, but it’s much easier when the father is loving, kind, caring, understanding, and open with us, even when we fail and disobey. Often our view of God is slanted and guided by our opinion of our earthly father. If he was absent, angry, uncaring, unloving, and mean, we’ll too often project those ideas onto God our heavenly Father.

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

But, if our earthly father was understanding, patient, kind, loving, supportive, and forgiving we can more easily see our heavenly Father in that kind of role. What’s my point? It’s easier to please a father who is kind and caring than one who is aloof, dominant and uncaring; thus, the reason Jesus found it so easy to love His Father and why we should as well.

Augustine made an insightful observation when he wrote: “God finds pleasure in us when we find pleasure in Him.” But how do we do that? As human beings we find pleasure in many things. I find great pleasure in writing, listening to the Lord and recording His thoughts, as, I suspect, some of you do. Others find pleasure in sports – participating in them and/or watching them; others in crafts of various sorts, reading, researching, investigating, inventing – the list is long of those things in which we find pleasure.

However, my sense is there is no equal to the pleasure we find in relationships, especially our fellowship with our heavenly Father and His Holy Son, the Lord Jesus. Having walked with the Lord for more than 60 years, nothing satisfies like intimacy with my Savior. To sense His presence, to hear His voice, to walk in obedience to His directives – there’s nothing like it that can be achieved on a human level.

The byproduct of pleasing and seeking to honor the Lord in every avenue and aspect of our lives is living in His pleasure. As Augustine observed, God’s pleasure with us begins and thrives in our pleasure in Him. But how? What does it mean? What might it look like to find pleasure in God? How do we find pleasure in a relationship with anyone? How do you find pleasure with your spouse? Your kids? Your relatives? Friends?

Yes, of course, there’s a level of physical pleasure that can be achieved in relationship with our spouse that was designed by God to be enjoyed exclusively between us as husband and wife, but even that intimacy can be copied, cheapened, and still enjoyed by those who take it outside of marriage and outside the boundaries of God’s design.

But the intimacy we share with God which results from our pleasure in Him and His pleasure in us, can ‘t be duplicated by some artificial means, not even drugs. It’s an unadulterated enjoyment of pure love that’s from the heart of God to our heart – an ecstasy of spirit that cannot be gained through artificial means, but only comes from our heavenly Father as a means of expressing His joy and pleasure in us when He sees and knows that He’s the center and focus of our joy and pleasure in Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Power

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16 NLT)

What comes first to mind when you think of power? Being a lover of Mustangs, I think of a strong, powerful engine, but I also thought of the power of nuclear energy, illustrated through the destructive force of a nuclear explosion. However, as massive as the destruction caused by such a blast can be, it pales in comparison to the unharnessed power of sin unleashed in a person’s life.

Sin is what nailed our Savior to the Cross and what sentences many each day to an eternity of separation from a loving God and His holy heaven. We tend to think of gross evil when we think of sin, and it certainly is, but what’s scary is the subtlety of sin at work in people’s lives who think their own goodness is going to earn them a place in heaven.

It’s easy to understand why a rapist, murderer, gangster, or someone steeped in corruption should go to hell, but what about a person who loves their family, provides for their needs, pays their taxes, goes to church, serves the PTA or other social network and is just a good all-around person? Should they go to hell also?

That’s the frightening dimension of sin. Sin is gross negligence of the presence and power of God available to every person but only activated in and on behalf of those who choose Jesus as their Lord and Master. Sin is choosing to do things our way rather than God’s, believing what we think is best, rather than what God’s Word (the Bible) says.

The real power of God is the Holy Spirit’s activity living in and through the life of a born again believer. The writer of the Hebrew letter reminds us in chapter 12:14: “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” The word translated “work” in this verse conveys the idea of “running after” or to pursue with intentionality or on purpose.

Holiness doesn’t automatically happen in our lives, we have to long for it, pursue it, desire it. And yes, of course, it’s a gift from God, but like the gift of salvation, it must be received, cherished, protected, and sought after all the days of our lives. Like salvation, our holiness isn’t received in idleness, but in pursuit of carrying out God’s purposes every second of every day and activated in and through our lives by HIS power, not ours.

William Gurnall reminds us to: “Pray not only against the power of sin, but for the power of holiness also.” What is he suggesting? Holiness of heart and life demands energy that we cannot supply ourselves, it must come as the result of believing prayer, prayer not offered by those who believe they’re good enough without it.

And here’s the scary, subtle part of that to me: my sense is too often people aren’t negligent because they don’t care, but because they don’t know to care; they haven’t been taught to care by those of us who know and love Jesus. Might our ministry to our friends and loved ones, especially those who are nominal or “borderline” believers, be to awaken them to their need to (a) seek Jesus with their whole heart, and (b) learn to pray with diligence and intentionality as they seek to grow in holiness of life.

There’s power in sin to separate us from God, but there’s more power in God’s Spirit to save, sanctify, and satisfy us in the Lord Jesus.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Dry Bones Praying

*As I do the 15^th of each month, I’m featuring a devotional message by Sylvia Gunter. May her words encourage, inspire, and motivate you as they have me. Blessings, Ed 😊

You may be standing in a desperate situation in the battle of a lifetime. You may feel that you are in the darkest storm of your life. It seems that everything in your world is out of your control. Good news! It is! But God is still in control. El Roi, the God who sees, knows it all and has a plan that he is working out.

You may be in a new place of desperation that can only squeak ‘Jesus’ or ‘God, help me’ or ‘God, do something.’ These are incredibly powerful squeaks because of the desperation that throws itself entirely on God. They are cries from a desperate heart for God to do what only God can do.

God gave the vision of the valley of dry bones to his prophet Ezekiel because his heart weeps over the dry bones of his people, as Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. The Spirit of God wants to breathe new life into vast areas of spiritual dryness, barrenness, and deadness.

This passage can be intensely personal. Take strength and comfort from these prayers. Re-center yourself on God’s purposes and promises, and take up new prayer weapons to fight the real enemy, not the person or situation. Ask for a weeping heart of mercy, not judgment. Until you can put your tears and your life on the line for the person, marriage, family, church, city, or nation, you do not have the heart and mind of Jesus towards them. Open your Bible to Ezekiel 37 and read, crying out to God for your own “dry bones” situations.

Ezekiel 37

37:1 Father, your hand is upon us in Spirit-led intercession for (my loved one). Purify our hearts by your Spirit and deposit your burden of prayer in us, unmixed with unsanctified sympathies, anger, bitterness, or human judgments. We are trusting you to bring us through the valley of the shadow of death, as you promised. Lead us to pray as large, deep, and wide as your providence in this situation. Give us a heart of wisdom and mercy that rejoices against judgment for (my loved one).

37:2 We trust that you have gone before and are working, even when we don’t see your purposes. Spirit of the Lord, lead us to rightly discern the real condition of (my loved one), not just react to what we think or have been told. You see the dry bones of barrenness and desolation. You know the entrances that (my loved one) has given the kingdom of evil.

37:3 Spirit of counsel, you know everything. You don’t need us to inform you. You want from us restful, trusting communion and absolute surrender to your will, your ways, and your timing. We humbly acknowledge our total dependence on you for faith to stand, for knowledge and counsel, for comfort and security, for direction and outcome. Let us speak only your prayers. Let us not accept as final the circumstances of evil and iniquity that our eyes see. You alone know the end from the beginning, and you are the God of the impossible.

37:4 Say to deaf ears, “Hear the word of the Lord!” At your direction, let us discern and pray your purposes for (my loved one) . Speak your words to them and cause them to respond obediently to you. Enable us to pray your prayers for the dry bones of (my loved one’s) whole being. Holy Spirit, call forth your purposes and the future and hope that you have planned for (my loved one).

37:5-6 Sovereign Lord, speak your creative and restoring miracle to (my loved one’s) life with the same resurrection power that brought Jesus to life from the dead. Breathe new life into them by your Spirit. Set everything in place in your order in their life, so that (my loved one) will know that you are Lord, Sovereign Ruler, rightfully due their loyalty and obedient service.

37:7 By faith, we believe you, obey you, and pray as you command. Answer by your Spirit and open a way where there seems to be no way. You go before, for you are the God of break-through. Give us a sign of encouragement. Let us hear the “rattling bones” coming together as you make (my loved one) who you intend them to be: healthy, whole, functioning, life-giving. By your blood, Lord Jesus, regenerate life in them and cause the marrow of their inner being to begin to sustain life.

37:8 Thank you for every sign of Your goodness we see, no matter how small. You are answering, and we ask you to do it thoroughly. Stop short of nothing less than a new heart, a new spirit, a new life.

37:9 Sovereign Lord, call forth from the north, the south, the east, and the west the breath of life for (my loved one). You formed them in their mother’s womb, and as you breathed in them the first breath of their life, breathe into them the new life of the Spirit in all your favor and purpose. Restore them to wholeness.

37:10-11 No situation is hopeless to you. Sovereign Lord, break off the shackles of captivity. Cause (my loved one) to stand up in all the fullness of your redeeming power. Make (my loved one) mighty in your Spirit. Deliver them as an effectual weapon in your hand. Let us see your glory in these things that were intended for evil.

37:12 You have the keys to open the prison doors of sin, bondage, and destruction. Bring this captive out into all their true inheritance in you. Restore them to the family and the family of God.

37:13-14 Father, act in such a way that (my loved one’s) transformation will be a testimony to your redemptive power. What you are doing, do quickly. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

An archive of our devotionals is available at on our website

The Open Way

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NLT)

Following a path, especially at night, even with a light can be difficult. Yet it seems as we grow in the Lord, we have this mistaken idea that our way as a believer should be paved and well lit. Where did we get such an idea? Certainly, not in the Bible.

Think of Joseph about whom we spoke a few days ago, or Abraham, the father of our faith, or Moses, or David, or the prophets, and especially the Lord Jesus! Anyone who sets their face to follow God’s plan is guaranteed to have trials, troubles, and hard times. Jesus clearly stated in John 16:33: “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

The Lord doesn’t open clear pathways for us before we come to them or even provide help before we need it. He isn’t some spiritual bulldozer who goes before us clearing the way, yet when we need Him, He’s always near to help us address every need. Too often we let the worries of what might be paralyze and immobilize us from ever taking any meaningful steps for the Lord. We want to envision miles of clear highway before us when God promises “a lamp to guide my feet,” not a floodlight.

We’re too quick to forget Psalm 46 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” God’s help is “present,” not future. Remember God is ever-present, which means He is present in every moment from the beginning of time to the end of time. Yes, absolutely He will be with us in the future, but not until WE are there in time. He goes before us and waits for us, preparing the way so we can accomplish His plans and purposes, but sometimes those plans include hardships and trials we’d never choose for ourselves.

But why? Just as athletes are shaped and formed through rigorous training, so, we as children of God must exercise our faith in and through hardships, trials, and troubles. We’ll grow soft and useless unless and until our faith is challenged. We must not believe trials are meant to hurt or push us away from the Lord, quite to the contrary, they’re designed to draw us into His holy arms.

Our way isn’t open for us to see from start to finish, only the next step, that’s why it’s called faith, and according to Hebrews 11:6 “it is impossible to please God without faith.” Faith isn’t given in its fullness at the beginning of our journey, but grows, develops, and expands as we exercise it. Our faith muscles are strengthened; thus, the Lord allows our troubles to increase because He knows with His help we can handle them.

Are you in a difficult season? The Lord knows! He’s with you and for you! He knows your need and His presence will equip you with strength in each moment as you need it. Don’t worry about tomorrow, next week, next month or even 10 minutes from now, just bask in His holy, comforting, strengthening presence in THIS MOMENT!

He’s all you need, all you’ll ever need and will be with you every step of your faith-journey, regardless of how hard it might become. You’ve got all you need because you have HIM! Trust Him in this moment and the next and the next as He continually opens His way before you as He has faithfully opened His way for me for many, many years.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Have You Stepped In?

“They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.” (2 Corinthians 8:5 NLT)

Recently Dr. David Jeremiah, in one of his Turning Point devotionals, wrote: “One day when twelve-year-old David Grant went with his father to a church service, a missionary named Charles Greenaway made an appeal for Christ. When the ushers later passed the offering plate, young David put it on the floor and stepped in it. The Lord seemed to say to him, ‘David, you will go to India.’ In the decades that followed, David Grant had a powerful missionary career.’”

What might the Lord be waiting to accomplish in your life or mine, if only we’d “step into the offering plate?” It’s ironic that many, if not most believers in the Lord Jesus want to be used of Him, while only a relatively few actually are. Why is that? Could it be we want to be used on our terms? Might it have something to do with “our” schedules, “our” desires, “our” restrictions that we place on the Lord’s use of us?

The first requirement of doing anything epic for God is realizing nothing is “ours,” it’s all HIS! When we’re baptized into new life with Christ, we’re lowered into a watery grave, then rise to new life in Him. What happens when we die? Everything about us dies, nothing survives. Why is that important? Because if nothing survives, EVERYTHING is new!

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” That means we don’t hang on to our old lifestyle, our old way of thinking and doing things. We let go of the childish ways of human reasoning and begin to use the logic of the Spirit who teaches us to rely completely on the Lord Jesus for everything, even our thoughts.

Jesus said in John 15:5: “Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” David Grant (see above) wrote: “When the Holy Spirit passes the offering plate, step in…. God is not so much interested in your money; He’s interested in you.” He’s not interested in our excuses, He’s interested in our actions.

A famous preacher said: “Give me 10 men who love nothing but Jesus and I’ll change the world.” How could that be possible? It’s not except through the power of God who infills, empowers, and enables us to be more than we hoped or imagined we could be. I love D. L. Moodys’ quote about Moses when he wrote: “Moses spent forty years thinking he was somebody; forty years learning he was nobody; and forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.”

Here’s the truth, whoever you are, if you’ll step into the “offering plate” of God’s transformational power and allow the Holy Spirit to take up residence in you, there is nothing that you and God can’t accomplish that’s in line with His will. There’s no greater joy than walking in obedience to and conformity to God’s will. The things He will teach you and use you to accomplish will stagger your mind and encourage your spirit.

When we yield our life, with all our limitations, to the One who has no limitations, we find strength, liberty, joy, and fulfillment we never knew existed. Step into the “offering plate” of God and watch Him do in and through you what you never dreamed possible.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Punching Holes in the Darkness

“You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” (Matthew 5:14-16 NLT)

Anne Graham Lotz tells of a night in Robert Louis Stevenson’s boyhood when his nanny just couldn’t get him to bed. Young Robert just kept staring out the window, oblivious to her talking to him. Finally, she said, “Robert, what in the world are you looking at out there?” As she pulled back the curtain, she realized he was watching the lamplighter making his way down the street, lighting one streetlamp after another. Young Robert Louis Stevenson saw something more. He said, “Look at that man! He’s punching holes in the darkness!”

That thought grabbed my attention as I consider what Jesus said: “YOU (WE) ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!” We, you and I as followers of the Most High God, are bearers of God’s eternal light to the people in our spheres of influence. Every second of every day we bear witness to His light or fail to do so. “Yeh, but what about the time I’m alone?” Perhaps the most important time to allow His light to shine!

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

The older I get the more aware I become of the need of those whose lives our light shines upon to see and feel the effects of His Holy presence. What is His light, but evidence of His presence? As I spend time sitting in waiting rooms in doctor’s offices I’m struck by the sadness, loneliness, and lostness of many of those I see. That’s why at every opportunity we should engage them with words of encouragement and even offer to pray with them, but unless His light fills us by His Spirit it cannot flow out of us to brighten someone else.

Darkness prevails in our world today and God’s express purpose for us is to punch holes in it with our life, our kind, encouraging words, and our witness for our Risen Savior. Who will spread the light if not us? You and me, filled with His Spirit, activated by His love, motivated by all He’s done and is doing in our own lives? We ARE His lights, we don’t have to muster anything to become light, all we have to do is allow Him to shine through us to those in our spheres of influence.

What are some ways we can punch holes in the darkness? These are a few that come to my mind first: kindness, thoughtfulness, love, generosity, prayerfulness, openness to the Lord’s Spirit, and sensitivity to His leadership. Often the first step in getting someone to see their need of Jesus is to help them see their need of friendship…with us, as children of God.

Do you realize how inviting kindness is? I can’t count the number of conversations I’ve had because of some kindness I’ve extended without giving it a thought. Opening the door for someone, complimenting their smile or clothing; offering to help them in some way, paying for their meal, buying them gas, giving them a hug.

People are starving for kindness, to be noticed, to understand that their life counts for something more than the mundane existence they’re experiencing. Light drives out darkness and kindness can help drive out pain and heartache. Kindness isn’t the only way to let the Lord’s light shine, but it’s certainly a great opening to sharing His love and life with those who are hurting. People are much more open to listen to someone they like than someone they don’t. And, of course, light shines much more brightly through a clean vessel.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊