Looking Heavenward

 “Look, I am making everything new!” 

 Rev. 21:5

 And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

  Rev. 7:17

Recently the word redeemer has come to my attention. It is such a beautiful word as it applies to our Savior because it speaks of the price he paid to buy back all that was lost and restore everything to its original condition.  

Are you tired of the futility and frustration of this broken world? Are you exhausted by sin, suffering, and death?  Are you burdened with the pain that lives inside you and outside you? Your Redeemer knows.  Your Redeemer understands. Your Redeemer cares.  His grace has been unleashed and its work will not be done until every last sin-broken thing has been fully and completely made new again.  Be encouraged, your Redeemer is at work!*

Isn't this good news. It is good to know that our Redeemer, knows and understands when we are feeling the pain and sorrow of our own sin or are affected by the sin of others.  It is good to remember where we are headed, that in the end he will redeem all things from death and decay. It is good to keep our gaze heavenward where we anticipate entering into glorious freedom, where all our tears will be wiped away and everything will be made new.

But with eager hope,

the creation looks forward to the day 

when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom 

from death and decay.

  Ro. 8:21

Listen:  My Redeemer is Faithful and True, Steven Curtis Chapman

*Tripp, Paul David, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, Crossway, 2014, pg. 102.

Image:  Looking Heavenward by Marcia Breznah

The Blessing of Trials

So be truly glad. 

There is wonderful joy ahead, 

even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.

1 Peter 1:6 (NLT) 

When troubles come your way,

 consider it an opportunity for great joy.

 James 1:2-3 (NLT)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials,

 for we know that they help us develop endurance. 

Romans 5:3 (NLT) 

"Count it all joy!"  "Rejoice!" "Be truly glad!" When life is easy and fun and going smoothly, that makes sense.  But to be glad and rejoice when we run into problems and troubles and trials, really? It is paradoxical to think we should be happy and joyful when we are hurting and sorrowful and in painful circumstances. 

Why then would Paul and Peter and James all tell us the same thing?  Did they know something we don't? What they knew and had experienced was that trials work. They had gained the understanding that trouble accomplishes things that living a carefree life could never do.  Going through trouble humbles us and creates something of eternal value in us. Impurities are burned away like gold that has gone through the fire.  All of the unnecessary things in our lives are stripped away, leaving us with things of true value. 

How can we rejoice when we are full of fear and dread, anxiety or pain. Only by faith, by looking away to the one who endured all, by trusting that all difficulties are working in us new and better and higher things.  Believing that God is good and that he will bring good from what ever we go through. Then we can say like Job, "When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)  When he brings us through, we will see his hand.  So rejoice, be glad, be happy when you encounter all kinds of trials for God is working in you to accomplish his great purposes.

Thank you, Lord, for your refining work.  Thank you, Lord, for the humbling that comes when my trials bring me to the end of myself. I rejoice in your work and all the good you are creating in me.

For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. 

Yet they produce for us a glory 

that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

2 Cor. 4:17

Click here: Andrae Crouch singing Through It All

Lifter of My Head

But you, O LORD, are a shield around me;

you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.
I cried out to the LORD,

and he answered me from his holy mountain.
I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety,

 for the LORD was watching over me.

  Ps. 3:3-5

In every difficult circumstance of life when doubts and fears threaten to overtake us, God has promised to be our protector.  He has promised to be a shield around us to keep the discouragement of the enemy from penetrating our mind and emotions. When life weighs us down, and we feel our shoulders slumping, he gently lifts our head so that we can look up and see hope for our future.

When we are faced with difficulties and troubles, let us not hesitate to cry out to our God.  When David cried out, God heard and answered.  There, in the midst of the ongoing threat from his enemies, he was able to lay down and sleep in peace because he knew God was watching over him and working behind the scenes.

Lord, thank you for hearing my cry.  You are a shield around me.  Set me free from my fear and anxiety, lift my head and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Lord, when doubts fill my mind,

when my heart is in turmoil,

quiet me and give me renewed hope and cheer.

Ps. 94:19

Oil of Joy

Ugandan Children's Choir

 "You love justice and hate evil. 

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you,

 pouring out the oil of joy on you

more than on anyone else. 

Ps. 45:7 

Jesus was given joy above any being and he has an abundance of joy to give.  His kingdom is full to overflowing with an abundance of joy and peace.  

He longs to share his joy with his people just as he said to Jerusalem,

"How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me."  (Luke 13:34)

How he longs to bless us.  Jesus is in the business of transforming our lives.  We are very sad creatures indeed without his love and his spirit to lighten, lift and encourage us.  He wants to transform our darkness into light.  And he will do it.

When we are in a state of sadness, depression or anxiety we need his mercy and grace to help us.  We can call out to him for mercy and expect an answer in his time and in his way because he is our helper.  Let's not be like those in Jerusalem who were unwilling.  Let us open our hearts and believe that he will turn our mourning into joy. 

You are amazing, Lord. You are our deliverer.  Make us willing to receive all you have for us. In our times of sadness or despair, we cry out to you for help and mercy.  You are the one who can turn our sad days into dancing days taking off our mourning clothes and clothing us with the oil of gladness.  

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

 because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

 to proclaim freedom for the captives 

and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor,

 to provide for those who grieve in Zion--

 to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,

 the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

 and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. 

Is. 61:1-3

His Grace is All I Need

So to keep me from becoming proud, 

I was given a thorn in my flesh,

 a messenger from Satan to torment me

 and keep me from becoming proud. 

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need.

My power works best in weakness.” 

So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses,

 so that the power of Christ can work through me.

 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses,

 and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles

that I suffer for Christ.

 For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NLT)

God is so gracious to bring about circumstances in our lives that bring us to the end of ourselves.  Only then are we in a position to receive.  Their is only one stance of receptivity - on our knees.  When we have realized that we have no power or control over our circumstances we finally come to the place where we are humble enough to receive.

This is what happened to Paul.  He kept struggling against his pain asking God to take it from him, until God spoke to him,  "Don't you realize, Paul, that I have given you this thorn to bring you into a blessed state of humility where you can receive everything you need.  From that place of submission all of my power can be released."

Only then Paul was able to let it go, to cast it all into the hands of God, realizing that the suffering and pain could not be compared with what God had in store for him. He actually took pleasure in his sufferings.  His thorn became his blessing.  All of our sins, failures and shortcomings, all of our cares worries and concerns, become the place where God can pour out an abundance of grace.

Lord, thank you for bringing us into this place of humility where we can cast upon you all of our weaknesses, sins and troubles. Open the windows of heaven today and pour our that abundance of grace and power that we need.  Your grace is sufficient for me. 

 I will boast only about my weaknesses.

2 Corinthians 12:5 (NLT) 

Listen to: Your Grace Is Sufficient

Humility

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Good and upright is the LORD;

 therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 

He guides the humble in what is right 

and teaches them his way.

 Psalm 25:8-9 (NIV) 

Our scripture today reminds us of the need for humility. According to this Psalm it is the humble that enjoy the Lord's guidance and instruction. And James 4:6 reminds us that God resists the proud, but gives favor to the humble. I don't know about you, but this quality of humility often alludes me as my self-will raises its ugly head.  I so want and need the Lord's favor and guidance but recognize my need to humble myself moment by moment so that I will be in a position to receive. But how can I overcome my natural inclination toward pride and self-will?

Here from David Paul Tripp in New Morning Mercies is the suggestion that even this, the ability to humble ourselves, is a gift of God's grace to us.

This is why grace is essential.  It takes powerful rescuing grace to transform me from a self-rule junky into a person who willingly and joyfully submits to the plan and purpose of another.  It requires powerful mercy for me to become a person who surrenders self-appointed authority to the authority of God.  It takes grace for me to acknowledge that there is a King and that he is not me.  It takes God's rescuing hand for me to forsake the purpose of my kingdom and take up the purpose of his.  Jesus submitted himself to the Father's will even to death so that you and I would have the grace we need to do the same. *

I like how he says "powerful rescuing grace".  We are unable in ourselves to humble ourselves, but God's grace and the spirit of Christ within gives us that power.  

Lord, I admit that many times I am not humble.  I know I need humility.  I ask for your grace to humble myself so that I can become a recipient of all the good things you have prepared for me.

But he gives us more grace. 

That is why Scripture says:

 "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

 James 4:6 (NIV) 

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* Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, (Crossway, 2014), 58

Presence

And I will ask the Father, 

and he will give you another Advocate, 

who will never leave you.

No, I will not abandon you as orphans

—I will come to you. 

John 14:16,18 

It is for your good that I am going away. 

Unless I go away, 

the Counselor will not come to you;

but if I go, I will send him to you. 

John 16:7

Jesus knew the sadness and fear that his followers were feeling when he told them he would be leaving. He was concerned for them. For three years they had enjoyed his companionship, deriving strength and encouragement from his presence. Jesus comforted them by telling them that he would not leave them but would come to them in the person of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would become their close companion to help, cheer, strengthen and encourage them just as he had done.

The Holy Spirit is God's gift to us. Because of this gift we have the privilege of living in the presence of God. It is just like the disciples walking with Jesus except now the Holy Spirit is not just with us and around us, but also in us. Jesus sent the Spirit to us to be our companion as we walk here on this earth. He didn't want us to feel alone but wanted us to walk every day with a sense of his presence. We experience his presence all around us. Even in those times when we cannot feel his presence we rely on the truth of God’s promise. He said that he will always be with us, will never leave or forsake us, so we take him at his word knowing no matter how we feel, he is there.

Thank you, Jesus for asking the Father to send the Holy Spirit to abide with us. We know you are always there to comfort and encourage us no matter how we may feel. We seek more and more the experience of your presence, Holy Spirit.

And when you believed in Christ, 

he identified you as his own

by giving you the Holy Spirit, 

whom he promised long ago. 

2 Cor. 1:22

The Spirit is God’s guarantee 

that he will give us the inheritance he promised 

and that he has purchased us to be his own people. 

Eph 1:14 

Holy Spirit

Francesca Battistelli

There's nothing worth more

That could ever come close 

No thing can compare

You're our living hope. 

Your presence, Lord.

I've tasted and seen

Of the sweetest of loves 

Where my heart becomes free

And my shame is undone 

Your presence, Lord.

Holy Spirit, You are welcome here

Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere.

Your glory, God, is what our hearts long for

To be overcome by Your presence, Lord 

Your presence, Lord 

There's nothing worth more

That could ever come close

Let us become more aware of Your presence 

Let us experience the glory of Your goodness 

Listen to Holy Spirit by Francesca Battistelli