Sabbath

Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. 

For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works,

 just as God did from his. Hebrews 4:9‭-‬10 CSB

The word Sabbath comes from a root that means to cease, desist or rest.  God created the Sabbath for us so we could cease from our own ways and find our rest in him.

I like these ways of talking about Sabbath:

Sabbath rest is thus a call to Sabbath trust, a call to visibly demonstrate in our daily living that we know ourselves to be upheld and maintained by the grace of God rather than the strength and craftiness of our own hands. To enjoy a Sabbath day, we must give up our desire for total control. We must learn to live by the generosity of manna falling all around us. ¹

The sabbath teaches us to trust in God’s strength. Sabbath keeping, therefore, is the perfect exercise to help us deal with anger. Sabbath forces us out of the role of God in our lives. Allowing God to take care of us, we relax and enjoy life. That is essentially what it means to rest. ²

When we come to the place where we can joyously "do no work", it will be because God has become so exalted in our mind and body that we can trust him with our lives and our world and can take our hands off them. ³

Rest. Trust. Surrendering control. These are the core elements of Sabbath keeping. ⁴

Sabbath is taking a break from yourself, from the worrying, striving and controlling and letting God be in charge. This is not just for a day a week, but a lifestyle of daily living in which we are released from our own ways and enter into trust in the provision of God. Let us make the choice every day to practice Sabbath, resting from our own works and trusting completely in God.

Work may be done for six days,

but on the seventh day there is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, 

a sacred assembly. You are not to do any work;

 it is a Sabbath to the Lord wherever you live. Leviticus 23:3

¹ Norman Wirzba, Living the Sabbath, p.38 (Quoted in James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life, Kindle version, Location 1043.)
² James Bryan Smith, The Good and Beautiful Life, Kindle Version Location 1049.
³Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, Kindle Version Pg. 174.
⁴ Smith, Location 1053

Omnipotence

 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being. Eph. 3:20

I have been studying the "omni's" - God's Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omnipotence.  These are those very great attributes of God that give us assurance that God is present, He knows what is going on and He has the power to do something about it.  

It is because of God's omnipotence that Jesus can say, "Have faith in God.  Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." (Mark 11:22,24)

Nothing is impossible with God. He has the power to do whatever he wills.  He has the power to change me, to change those around me and to change my circumstances. When we pray and believe this, we will have our answer.  The answer may not look the way we envision, but we know that when we pray believing, God's power will be at work in us and will accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine. (Eph. 3:20)

May we pray along with Paul, that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened in order that we would know the exceeding greatness of His mighty power that is working for us so that we can pray in faith believing that we have received whatever we have asked of God.  (Eph.1:18,19) 

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Living in the Moment

Each moment is a precious gift from God.  We experience God’s presence only in the present.  He wants us to experience each moment and to live each season of life to its fullest. To be “all there” wherever we are. As the prayer for serenity says, “Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time.” He has covered our past and He does not want us to worry about the future because He will be there when we get there.

One thing that can hinder our enjoyment of the moment is regrets and failures that plague us.  Dwelling on our past mistakes keeps us in a state of guilt and shame, and robs us of our hope for the future. 

The Word is clear about how we should handle these negative thoughts.  Bring them to God, confessing all we have done and then receiving by faith the promise of his forgiveness.  If we come in this way, we can be assured by the promise of his word that we are forgiven, that our sin is now buried in the depths of the sea to be remembered no more. 

The Apostle John assures us, “If we freely admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just, true to His own nature and promises, and will forgive our sins and continuously cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 Jn 1:9 (AMP)

The Prophet Micah reminds us of the nature of the God we love, “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18-19 (NIV)

And Isaiah quotes from God himselfI, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25

God, even God, is the one who has buried our sins in the depths of the sea and forgotten them. If God has forgotten, how can we continue to dwell on them. As Corrie Ten Boom reminds us, He puts up a “No Fishing” sign reminding us not to dredge them up again.

These are wonderful promises that we can embrace.  Whenever our experience in the moment is being threatened by negative thoughts of guilt, shame, worry or fear let us immediately confess any sin that comes to mind, embrace the promise of forgiveness and cleansing love and move on in freedom to experience the joy, peace and rest He has promised. When we do this we are ready to fully experience and enter into the moment, the season and circumstances in which he has placed us for his glory.

Dear Lord, We need your help to fully experience all that you have for us today.  Help us to bring all of our thoughts into obedience to Christ who has born all of our sins and carried them away.  Remembering your forgiveness, we confess and let go of everything that hinders us. The past is gone and by your grace help us to run the race set before us embracing all the good things ahead for us in the future.  May we live in this moment full of the joy, peace and freedom that you have for us. We rest in your unfailing love. Amen

Wonderfully Kind

Praise the Lord, my soul,

 and do not forget how kind he is. Ps. 103:2

It is good to remember that God is always dealing with us in kindness.  Everything he does comes from a kind and generous heart.  

Even in times of discipline when he is working for change in our lives, it is always with our good and ultimate well-being in mind.  He knows where we need to go and is always kindly and gently leading us there. And he will not give up until he has completed his work.  

Romans 2:4 tells us that his kindness is intended to lead us to repentance.  Repentance just means a change of heart and mind that causes us to turn and go in a different direction. A change of heart is what we all need. The Message translation puts it this way:  God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

You may be keenly aware of your failures and so you are feeling a sense of condemnation and guilt. That isn't God talking. He is kindly saying, "I will help you. I will hold you by your right hand and lead you on to new and better things."

If you hear his voice, don't turn away.  He knows exactly what you need.  Receive him, believe in him. He is the giver of new life.

There's a Wideness in God's Mercy 

Frederick W. Faber

(1814–1863)

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is welcome for the sinner,

And more graces for the good;

There is mercy with the Savior;

There is healing in His blood.

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

If our love were but more simple,

We should take Him at His word;

And our lives would be all sunshine

In the sweetness of our Lord.

But we make His love too narrow

By false limits of our own;

And we magnify His strictness

With a zeal He will not own.

The Lord is merciful and loving,

slow to become angry and full of constant love. 

As high as the sky is above the earth,

so great is his love for those who honor him.

  As far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our sins from us. 

As a father is kind to his children,

so the Lord is kind to those who honor him. 

He knows what we are made of;

he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103:8‭, ‬11‭-‬14 GNTD

The Solid Rock

For who is God except the LORD? 

Who but our God is a solid rock? 

Psalm 18:31 

Today, I thought of this old song that George Beverly Shea used to sing at the Billy Graham crusades. It seems so appropriate for times like these.

In times like these you need a Savior,
In times like these you need an anchor;
Be very sure, be very sure,
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

This Rock is Jesus, Yes He's the One,
This Rock is Jesus, the only One;
Be very sure, be very sure,
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!

It is so good to know that when things are uncertain we can anchor our lives on the immovable, unshakable rock which is Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 Hebrews 13:5,8 

Listen to In Times Like These: 
 https://youtu.be/Lrs-lDkSnGc

Presents or Presence

It’s all about the presents!

When my children, Brian and Karen, were young their grandparents would make the 7 hour drive from Southern California to our home in Oakland to celebrate Christmas.  The kids would run excitedly out the front door as Grandma and Grandpa pulled up in the driveway in that big Ford LTD. Then, with great fanfare, the huge trunk would open stuffed to the gills with tons of beautifully wrapped boxes.  Wow! What fun and excitement as we carried all those presents into the house and placed them around the tree where they would spill out all over the floor.

The anticipation of opening all those presents brought joy to all of us, but was it really about the presents?  Why did Grandma and Grandpa make that trip? What did they really want? What they really wanted was our presence. They came all that way so that they could be with us, so that they could see the smiles on the grandchildren’s faces, so that we could all just be together.

It’s not just about the presents, it’s about the Presence!

God had that very same desire. We were so very far away, but he was willing to make that  long and costly trip because he so wanted to be with us and have the joy of bringing us gifts.

And, oh, the gifts he brought all beautifully wrapped in his love - the joy, peace, strength and calm assurance. Every good and perfect gift that we would ever need all wrapped up in his Presence. He smiles when we open the gifts he came so far to bring. It brings him great joy when we abide in him. He himself, is the very best gift of all. He, himself is that good and perfect gift that came down from heaven.

Lord, you extended and expended yourself to give us the gift of yourself and along with your presence every good and perfect gift that we will ever need. Let us open and receive those gifts today and especially enjoy your Presence this Christmas time.  Thank you for coming all that way and paying the price so that we can have the extreme joy of being with you.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down

from the Father of the heavenly lights.

James 1:17

God's Desires

If you need wisdom,

 ask our generous God, 

and he will give it to you. 

He will not rebuke you for asking.

 But when you ask him,

 be sure that your faith is in God alone.

 James 1:5,6

God has certain desires for his children. He wants to see us happy and fulfilled.  He wants us to prosper.  He wants us to experience his peace and rest.  He doesn't want us to be worried, harassed and frantic. He wants us to experience a sense of calm and security.

There are many things that try to rob us of these gifts. Sometimes, the stresses and strains of life cause us to look for relief in the wrong places, places that can never satisfy.  If we have a need, we should come to our generous God and ask.  He is the one who can give us all that we lack.  He wants us to come.  He wants us to ask.  He wants us to rest.  It is his joy, his good pleasure, to supply all of our needs.

What are you concerned about today?  Tell God about it.  He cares about you. He wants all of your needs to be supplied. He is not surprised by anything that has happened to you.  Put it into his hands and rest it there.

In God there is no hunger that needs to be filled,

 only plenteousness that desires to give.*

*C.S. Lewis (1996). “Joyful Christian”, p.195, Simon and Schuster ppl