God, contentment, and me

So, last night was the ladies fellowship and Kelly shared her testimony.  It was so good if you weren't able to be there.  But I wanted to share some things that really convicted and encouraged me for those of you who weren't able to attend last night.

This is a poem from her notes--It is taken from the devotional Steams in the Desert.

My goal is God Himself, not joy, nor peace,

Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God;

Tis His to lead me there, not mine, but His-

At any cost, dear Lord, by any road!

So faith abounds forward to its goal in God,

And love can trust her Lord to lead her there;

Upheld by Him, my soul is following hard

Til God hath full fulfilled my deepest prayer.

No matter if the way be sometimes dark,

No matter though the cost be oft times great,

He knoweth how I best shall reach the mark,

The way that leads to Him must needs be straight.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;

One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;

My God, my glory here, from day to day,

And in the glory there my great Reward.

So good, so convicting in whatever trial or storm you are going through right now.  God should be our ultimate joy and goal.  He is all we need--and even if we lose everything we hold dear He is enough, He will always be enough.  God is doing a work in your life and making you look more like Him.  He is fulfilling your "deepest prayer" and it is beautiful, though sometimes hard.  Trust in Him during this time, He is good and gracious and loving.  He promises to give us the strength to get through anything and everything that comes our way.

Psalm 57 says,

Be merciful to me O God, be merciful to me, for in You my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge, til the storms of destruction pass by.  I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.  He will send from Heaven and save me; He will put to shame him who tramples on me.  God will send out His steadfast love and His faithfulness..... (vs 10) for Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Be exalted I God above the heavens!  Let Your glory be over all the earth.

God is merciful and He is our refuge.  We should run to Him in time of need or hurt.  He is our comforter.  He has began a good work in you and He will complete it (Phil. 1:6).

This is a quote from John Piper, from the book Future Grace,

Answers to prayer can come inside the circle of a prayer denied.  God gives us trouble, but in the midst of a grace denied we got a grace supplied.  I am learning to trust God's wisdom in giving the grace that is best for me.  We should not be surprised that God gives us wonderful graces in the midst of suffering that we had asked Him to spare us.  He knows best how to apportion His grace for our good and for His glory.

SO GOOD!  Sometimes God empties our hands of something so that He can fill it with something even better--usually Himself.  We are called to trust Him... and know that He knows best.  He is our Creator and He knows what we need. He knows what will be best for us and make us look more like Him.  What a wonderful truth to cling to in times of struggle and hardship.

Another poem from Streams in the Desert that Kelly shared last night,

I had a tiny box, a precious box

Of human love - my spikenard of great price;

I kept it close within my heart of hearts

And scarce would lift the lid lest it should waste

Its perfume on the air.  One day a strange

Deep sorrow came with crushing weight, and fell

Upon my costly treasure, sweet and rare

And broke the box to atoms.  All my heart

Rose in dismay and sorrow at this waste,

But as I mourned, behold a miracle

Of grace Divine.  My human love was changed

To Heaven's own, and poured in healing streams

On other broken hearts, while soft and clear

A voice above me whispered, "Child of Mine,

With comfort wherewith thou are comforted,

From this time forth, go comfort others,

And thou shalt know the blest fellowship with Me,

Whose broken heart of love hath healed the world."

Give your treasure to Him.  Surrender it all.  He will use it in ways you could never imagine, to glorify Himself and to bring you more joy.

1 Peter 5 says,

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you...And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Have hope, trust God, and be comforted.  God is at work... cast all your burdens at the foot of the cross.  In His own perfect timing He will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.  He promises it, so He will do it.  Wait on the Lord.  Wait patiently and find your joy in Him.

~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, His plan, and me

A poem from tonights Bible Study.  It was so good and very convicting.  When circumstances come our way and we are disappointed when things don't turn out how we want them too, remember that God has a perfect plan and all of it is good for you.  He is working in your life to make you more like Him and it is all bringing Him more glory.  So when life disappoints remember that God is in control--yesterday, today, and forever more.

"Disappointment-His appointment";

"Disappointment-His appointment";

change one letter, then I see

that the thwarting of my purpose

is God's better choice for me.

His appointment must be blessing

though it may come in disguise;

for the end, from the beginning,

open to His vision lies.

"Disappointment-His appointment";

Whose? The Lord who loves me best,

understands and knows me fully,

who my faith and love would test.

For like loving parents

He rejoices when He knows

that His child accepts unquestioned

all that from His wisdom flows.

"Disappointment-His appointment";

no good thing will He withhold.

From denials oft we gather

treasure of His love untold.

Well He knows each broken purpose

leads to a fuller, deeper trust,

and the end of all His dealings

proves our God is wise and just.

"Disappointment-His appointment";

Lord can I take is then as such,

like clay in the hands of the potter

yielding wholly to His touch.

My life's plan is all His molding;

not one single choice be mine.

Let me answer unrepining,

"FATHER, NOT MY WILL,

BUT THINE."

~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, His Goodness, and me

So, the purpose of this blog update is to try and encourage those of you that read this... that you would remember God's  goodness and all that He has done for you, and remember to trust Him in all things.


God IS GOOD!  Yesterday, today, and forever more.  He is always good and He is the source of all good things.  When you are standing in the midst of trials, suffering, or even momentary peace we must remember that God is good.  If we forget this truth then our world will shake and we will lose our grasp on the one thing that is stationary--God.  We cannot doubt God's goodness one second of the day... it is what we cling to in this world, when evil is swirling all around us.  God is the rock, stronghold, and refuge in the midst of a fallen world (Psalm 18:1-3).  He is the Light and we must remember that.


Luke 18:19 says, "And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.'"


God alone is good and we, as fellow heirs with Christ, need to be looking more and more like Him daily.  We need to be reflecting Him--that is why we were created.


`Genesis 1:27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."


We are to reflect Him to a fallen world now, we are to reflect His goodness.  That is a whole different discussion though... I am going to talk about how we should lean on the fact that God is good, in the midst of trials and suffering.


Psalm 16:2 says, "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.'"


So, we need to remember in the midst of our trials that God is good and we have no good besides Him.  So when the Lord takes something away, we need to be content and rest in the fact that He is our goodness and nothing else matters.


Jeremiah Burroughs said, "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delight's in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition."


We are called to be content in Christ in whatever situations He brings our way.  We need to submit to and delight in all the work He is doing in your life, even if it hurts, knowing that it is God's goodness toward you.


Psalm 84:11 says, "The Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly."


So, everything that comes our way, if we are following Christ, is good to us.  It is what is best for you, whether it feels like it or not.  Ground yourself in that truth!  Ground yourself in God's Word!  It is the only thing that will not move, will not let you down, or disappoint.  Our God is good, loving, and immutable (unchanging)--what an awesome God He is.  =]  We need to continually remind ourselves of this, especially in hard times when our flesh tells us otherwise.


Another thing to remember in times of struggle is that God might be taking things out of your life (idols) so that He can fill that space of your heart with Himself.  This is a quote from a man at our church who was teaching Sunday School yesterday; teaching on Ruth, talking about Naomi.


"She did not realize that God was emptying her hands so that He could fill them with something much better."


If you are in the midst of struggle and hardship, I suggest reading Lamentations 3.  I will type just a section of it here...


"This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord  is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I have hope in Him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord."  (verses 21-26)


We need to recall to mind that God is good.  Lovingkindnesses, in this text, encompasses nine different things in the Hebrew--love, grace, mercy, goodness, forgiveness, truth, compassion, and faithfulness.  This verse says that all of these never cease.  They never cease!  What an encouraging truth that we can cling to.


I challenge you to remember God's lovingkindnesses all the day long.  To remember His goodness with every breath you take.  All that God is doing in your life is shaping you into a better tool that He can use for His glory. It is making you to look more like Christ, which should be our greatest goal in life--to glorify God, serve Him, and look more like Him.  May God be blessed by each of us and receive more glory through us all.  Live for Him and love Him in the easy times and the hard times--His hand is in it all and wherever you are right now is absolute best for you.  Praise Him, people!  Praise Him for His great goodness!


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.

God, Josiah, and me

So I was reading 2 Chronicles 34 today.  It was so good!  Josiah is one of my favorite kings in the Old Testament and here are some reasons why...


`2 Chronicles 34:2-3
"He did right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or the the left. For in the eighth year of his reign while he was still a youth, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images."


Reading up to this point is so cool, because the king right before Josiah (Amon) was wicked and did evil all the days of his life.  But God, being merciful, lead Josiah to Himself.  Not because of anything that Josiah had done--he was only eight when he became king--but all because of what the Lord worked in his heart.  God put a fire in Josiah so bright that at 20! he as purging nations of evil and leading them to God.  He was truly a man on fire for God.  His life was a witness to all those around him that God is real and worthy to be praised.  I pray that my life exhibits this as well.  By God's grace I will be a light to all around me and shine forth Him for all to see.  We can learn this great lesson from Josiah and his faith and courage.


`2 Chronicles 34:19
"And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes."


Josiah was so grieved over the law that he tore his clothes.  Remember that day when you first really heard the law... becoming so grieved over the fact that you had broken God's law and where wicked in His eyes because of it.  We still need to be broken over our sin, but praise God for His Son and that Jesus paid the price for my sins and your sins, if you believe, on the cross that day.  Now we actually have the choice not to follow our sinful desires and break God's law.  By His abounding grace we can now say no to those selfish, sinful desires.


`2 Chronicles 34:27
"'Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against the inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you,' declares the Lord."


Josiah was a truly humble man.  We can learn from him to put away our excuses for "why" we did certain things.  He didn't make one excuse before the Lord and there were plenty he could have come up with, but instead he humbled himself.  In verse 21 he confesses for the sin of not just his generation, but also his parents generation.  He could have made plenty of excuses since his father was wicked and did evil all the days of his life, but instead God honors him for his humility and his tender heart.  What an awesome picture.  So often we (mainly me, but we) make excuses before God.  We tell Him why we sinned and shift the blame to others (Gen. 3:12-13).  But if you are in Christ then you have to power to now say NO to sin, and the only reason you do sin is because you want whatever it is more than God.  We need to learn from Josiah and come humbly before the Lord, confessing our sins, and owning them.


`2 Chronicles 34:33
"Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers."


Last of all, Josiah lived his life well.  He finished strong (which is rare for the OT kings).  His life impacted those around him in a good way and they followed the Lord because of Josiah's example.  God worked miraculously through Josiah.  I pray that the Lord will use me and all of you as well, for His glory.  Whatever that may look like.  That we would continually tear down evil in ourselves and around us, that we would humble ourselves before the Lord when we sin and keep short accounts of sin before God and others, and that we would be willing for God to use us in WHATEVER way He wants and that at the end of our lives others would think immediately of God when they think of us.


~Praying that God is honored and worshiped more.