Trust

Job 13:15

Trust can be a hard thing to come by in our modern world. I've heard from a young age the old saying, "trust is earned, not given." I believe God has more than earned our trust, not that He has to earn anything. He is the Most High, the creator of everything, the Source of all life.

Concerning the matter of trust, I can really only speak for myself. I have been through a lot these past few years, and I have stubbornly dug my heels in and put my full trust in Christ Jesus and my wise and loving Father God. I have recently experienced some anxiety with some of the things that have been happening. I do not see the anxiety as evidence of a lack of trust, rather, evidence that I am human. God knows we are weak and we all have our breaking points (Psalm 103:13-14).

My wife and I have gone through so much in the past few years that we have started asking "what next?". When I think of all we have been through, looking through the eyes of a believer in and follower of Jesus Christ, I see three possibilities for why we have been experiencing these trials:

1. It has nothing to do with me at all. It may be for someone else to learn something (John 9:1-3).

2. It may be for a purification or strengthening of our faith (1 Peter 1:3-7).

3. (And this is my favorite possibility) To take us deeper into our relationship with Him in revealing Himself more fully to us (Job 42:5).

I have come to be thankful for things I don't understand, because when we come out on the other side, we see a little more clearly and have a little more understanding in who our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, wise and loving Father is and a deeper relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. There are not words sufficient to say how wonderful God is. I guess if I could choose the words, they would be "Thank you."

God is AWESOME!

Dad

Romans 8:12-17

In the old testament, forgiveness depended on the sacrifices the priests would offer for themselves, their families and Isreal (Leviticus 16).

Only the priest was allowed in the temple while the offereings were being made. No one else could be in the tent(Leviticus 16:17). If God accepted the sacrifices, then priest would live and the people would be forgiven until the next year. But that is not us today. Everything the priest did in the tent pointed directly to Christ Jesus. He is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Jesus became our scapegoat (Leviticus 16:20-22). He has given us the right to be children of God(John 1:9-12). As His adopted children, God invites us to call Him by the familiar name Abba (Romans 8:12-17). Abba is a very familiar name, an intimate name between a father and his chilren: Daddy.

Jesus is our High Priest. We are now able to come boldy to the throne of the Father. We may come to Him with our needs and our worries because He is our wise and loving Father. Boldy, not disrespectfully. Boldy but reverently. He is our Father and our God. He is Holy, the Most High. Not the big guy, not the man upstairs, not your buddy.

So, as His children, we represent Him in this world. We ought to behave in a way that reflects who we are in Christ. Live a life of gratitude to our saviour who has shielded us from the wrath of a Holy God. He has made us clean and gives us the ability to stand in the presence of the glory of God with no wrong in us and He has given us great joy (Jude 24).

God is AWESOME!

It's Personal

One of the most amazing things about God, to me, is how in Christ, He has millions of followers and He has a personal one on one relationship with all of us.

How is this possible?

With God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

In I Peter 1:3-7, Peter talks about our inheritance in Christ. Verse 6 he says that some are grieved, if necesary, by various trials. I fixated on if nesessary. How would He know when or if it were necessary unless He knows us on a deeply personal level. And through the trials He brings us, leads us into a deeper understanding of who He is.

We develop a deeply personal relationship with our God in Christ Jesus.

I have, and still am, learning to rejoice in my trials and sufferings. I have learned that instead of saying "What's next", to say "Thank you, please take me deeper in my understanding." The trials and suffering are a gift. In them we grow in our understanding of who God is, we love Him more. We see more clearly how our lives are hidden in Him with Christ, and discern how safe and secure we are in Christ, how we are sealed by His Holy Spirit for all of eternity (Colossians 3:3 and Ephesians 1:13-14).

God is AWESOME!

In Christ We Stand

We all have that one sin that we can't seem to shake. That besetting sin that we try to resist in the ongoing battle between the flesh and the spirit (Galatians 5:16-25). Speaking for myself, I struggle with that one sin. It hinders my walk with Christ Jesus, it is the thing that causes me to stumble over and over again (Proverbs 26:11).

I feel so unworthy that I stop talking to God, I don't ask for forgiveness for a while because it just kind of feels like I don't deserve it, which I really don't. But, God's Holy Spirit gently reminds me that I am forgiven already. I have been covered in the blood of the Lamb of God, He has saved me (Romans 8:1).

I am still learning how to be a follower of Christ Jesus. I must learn to let go of that sin (Hebrews 12:1) and keep my eyes, mind and focus on Christ. I read Psalm 51 recently. A Psalm of King David after he had Uriah the Hittite killed and was confronted by Nathan the prophet (2 Samuel 12:1-15). Psalm 51:1-12 has become my prayer. I read that and then prayed it. I have been washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, God has removed my sin from me as far as east is from the west (Psalms 103:11-12). We, as followers and students of Christ Jesus and in order to bear the fruits of the spirit, need to make a conscious effort to resist the flesh (2 Peter 1:3-9) because Jesus and the Holy Spirit have given us the tools and the power to live in the spirit (Romans 8:1-11).

Christ Jesus, our High Priest, who intercedes for us is all we have and all we need (Psalm 73:25-26) in Heaven. But here on Earth, He, in His genius and great wisdom, institued the church, where we gather to strengthen one another, encourage one another and bear one another's burdens (Proverbs 27:17; Hebrews 10:23-25; Galatians 6:2).

One of my favorite verses in scripture is from the book of Jude. It is Jude's closing thought in his letter. Jude 1:24. I like to remind myself of it every time I am feeling so unworthy. God is strong and is able to keep you from falling and can bring you into the presence of His Glory with no wrong in you, and give you great joy. As undeserving and unworthy as we all are (Romans 3:21-25) it is in Christ we stand.

God is AWESOME!

A Wretch Like Me

Luke 23:26-43

God's grace is beyond amazing. He holds out hope to the hopeless and forgives the unworthy.

There is the outward person, the one everyone sees, the one we show. Then there is the one inside. The one we hide in shame. The innermost thoughts. The things only God can see (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

The place where the flesh and the spirit fight, where the war rages. It is a seemingly endless struggle (Romans 7:14-8:1).

The Holy Spirit is stronger than the flesh.. He is the One who guides us into the Truth of Christ Jesus, who has overcome the world (John 16:33).

He calms the storm that rages in our innermost being and gives peace and brings us into salvation, and makes all things new (Romans 8:1).

God is AWESOME!

The Lie That Divides

Image Bearers

In our modern society, children are being taught to hate one another because of the color of their skin. This ought not be.

We were created in the image of God Most High. We bear His image. All of us. (Genesis 1:27) If you are in Christ Jesus, there is no reason you should believe the lie that we are different because of the color of our skin. It's a ridiculous notion. If you believe that, then you have fallen for a lie of the enemy. Satan wants to divide us. He wants to steal our joy (John 10:7-11).

We are a family. We are one in Christ and should not be fighting among ourselves over imagined diffences (Galatians 3:26-29).

We are, in fact, commanded to love one another by King Jesus Himself (John 13:4-35). That's huge. The world will know that we belong to Christ Jesus by our love for one another. We cannot move His Kingdom forward if we are too busy fighting with eachother over a lie.

God is AWESOME!!

Not Quite Wild Enough

John 1:1-4 and Colossians 1:15-17

It is the greatest miracle in all of history. A miracle never done before and will never be done again.

In John 1:1-4, the Apostle John wrote "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14)

So the Word was in the beginning and everything was created through the Word. (Genesis 1:3-24)

When the time was full, the bible tells us that the Holy Spirit came to Mary and that the Most High would "overshadow" or hover over her (Luke 1:34-35). The Most High hovering over her has the same meaning as it did way back in Genesis 1:2. A very powerful event was about to take place. I heard a song about how those who studied the scriptures and knew them better than anyone else would dream about the coming of the Messiah, but their wildest dreams simply weren't wild enough.

He was coming. Who is He? The Apostle Paul tells us who He is in Colossians 1:15-17.

The Word became flesh (John 1:14). Paul tells us in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus (the Word) is the "first born of creation". But He is not a creation. He is one with God. He is The Word.

The spirit of the Most High hovered over Mary. He spoke and the sound waves reverberated deep inside Mary's womb and a cell formed.

God is AWESOME!