Category Archives: Faith

Faith is what spurs us to reach higher, stretch further, dig deeper, and press our natural boundaries in hopes that we can exceed all expectations.

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Gods Restoration For His Sake

Sometimes we get caught in the idea that if ’good’ things are happening to me, God must be blessing my walk. But when we examine the book of Ezekiel, we find God’s ’goodness’ isn’t for the people’s sake at all. In fact, in the Israelites rebellion, God was still restoring for HIS namesake.

In Ezekiel 36:16 is where we find God’s concern for His name. Israel’s restoration would be more than physical. God promised, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. This cleansing will be followed by the impartation of new life. God will give the converted nation a new heart and a new spirit. In place of a heart of stone He will give Israel a heart of flesh. With God’s spirit indwelling them, they will be motivated to obey His decrees and laws.

God’s restoration will not simply be an undoing of Israel’s sin to bring her to a state of neutrality. Rather it will involve the positive implanting of a new nature in Israel’s people that will make them righteous. Jeremiah called this work of God the “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31). Implanting God’s Spirit in believing the Israelites will produce a new relationship between Israel and her God: You will be My people, and I will be your God. God will extend all His graciousness to His people.

Being delivered from their sin, they will experience the bountiful provision of the land including grain, fruit and crops without famine (34:29). When Israel reflects on God’s grace and her former character (her evil ways and wicked deeds), she will realize she does not deserve His favor. In fact, she will loathe herself because of her detestable practices, looking back in horror at them. The blackness of her past actions will contrast starkly with the light of God’s grace.

In the future, when Israel recalls her past actions, she would recognize that God had not saved her because of her merit. God was not doing this for her sake, but to magnify His own name. When Israel is restored and the land cultivated, people would note that this wasteland was like the Garden of Eden (v. 35). That’s amazing to think of right there! That God would take the waste they created and make it so pure again. Israel’s cities, formerly in ruins, would be fortified and inhabited. To the surrounding nations Israel would become an object lesson of God’s grace.

The people would be forced to acknowledge God’s sovereign power in restoring His people: “Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

God also caused the nation to increase numerically, which was considered a sign of God’s blessing. When we look back at at all the mess we’ve left behind, its important not to consider God’s restoration and blessings today as a sign that we must be doing something right. The Almighty, Creator and Sustainer will not let His name be defiled by His people and will restore His namesake.

We, as believers, have a responsibility to God if we say His glory is our ultimate purpose. Our wicked ways and innocent intentions can tear down the name of Christ if we don’t remain mindful of those looking upon us… looking to us as an example of the Jesus we proclaim as our King. In the midst of our ways, we must not mistake God’s hand of restoration as a blessing for our walk, but rather a redemption to His name for His sake.

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To Give Him Glory

What if nothing less than the flagrant fame of Jesus Christ became your life ambition? What if the wholly surrendered life in Christ is captured for what it really is: the most exhilarating adventure available for human flesh and blood. It is the offer to live for something so much greater. It is the offer for a life that matters-where His glory is jealously guarded and His fame is generously spread.

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The Sting and The Salt

There are times when the things of the past, our former ways, come to the surface of our ’new being created in the likeness of Christ’. And in repentance of this old nature, we feel the pain and sorrow grieving God for the choice we made. 1 Corinthians tells us sin/death will ’sting’.

Today, God’s living word began to stir in my heart, revealing attitudes and ways of a former self in need deliverance. I crawled to my knees in abandonment as His mighty hand held my heart. A Godly sorrow poured out the pain in many heavy tears as I renounced this ’old’ self. And as each teardrop fell, I felt a literal sting slide down my face containing carried pain and burdens I’ve been harboring. One after another, my sorrows streamed across my cheeks like the sting of salt on a wound.

Two days ago, I received a medical chemical peel on my face. The old calloused and conditioned skin is now dead and has mostly peeled off, revealing a newer, fresh, more pure and sensitive face. I heard God say this: “Those tears represent each burden and pain of an old nature. The sting of those sins are felt only to the new creation I have revealed.”

You see, a man stuck in his ways cannot feel the sting of death carried in his sin; he is conditioned and calloused to its ’pain’-just as the outer layer of my face had become conditioned for those salty tears. But when a new creation is revealed, the ’sting’ of an old nature can truly be felt.

“The newness” of Christ has covered me. God didn’t create us for the sting of death/sin. When we are renewed in Him and “put off the ways of our former self”, we become more sensitive to the ’sting’.

For me, I am reminded of this: In each of those tears I shed, there were burdens… and there was the salt. Jesus IS the Salt. And this much i know, though it stings in the moment, Salt heals like no other! Amen!

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He IS faithful

He says when you’re tempted to lose faith because of your suffering, when things are really hard, rest on the power of God. Rely on the God, “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

Before a promise was ever broken or a friend ever betrayed or disappointed, before a dream or desire was ever left unfulfilled, our responses were intended, planned by God to make known the glory of his grace in Jesus. He drew us a real-life picture of his love with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, who suffered for us. When we’re feeling discouraged and defeated, we’re called to remember that God loved us from long before we were born. He revealed his purpose to save us and his grace to sustain us in these trials through the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior, his Son, Jesus, the Messiah. (Oh, God. Thank you. You are the breath in my lungs. The only good in me.)

Paul says he abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Immortality means a life that lasts forever. And life means much more than breath in our lungs and a heartbeat. It means a full life, an abundant life, a joyful life, a life worth wanting forever. We can’t pray long enough or prepare well enough for the things He works in our lives. But James reminds us “The prayer of a righteous man has great effectiveness.” In Jesus, not only will we not die, we’ll taste true life, the life we ache for now, and we’ll have it forever. No one can ever take it from us.

Our knees are down, our faces are up, and our Bibles are open but what we need is Heaven wide-open and grace spilled down in a drenching flood. We want God to reveal Himself in a way we can’t ignore or recover from anytime soon. i am praying with all my heart for a revival. He IS faithful. That I know. “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

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Everlasting God

I am in awe this morning of God’s love for me. I feel his touch soothing the hurts from what this world has offered. Though others may come and go, He always remains. As I walk one with the Father, hand in hand, He is heavy on my mind in every moment. My security rests in the unified identity developed in Christ. Though the wind may blow and the seas toss around me, this daily walk cannot be rocked because my foundation is in the solid Rock of All Ages. My joy is everlasting in His word and my love lived out in His obedience. My freedom I gain from His provision. When all is gone, I assuredly remain standing in the promises and hope, the joy and love that He so graciously gives.

“One thing I know that I have found Through all the troubles that surround You are the Rock that never fails.

You never change, You’re still the same You are the Everlasting God You will remain after the day is gone and the things of earth have passed”

What an amazing, everlasting God!

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What is love

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life”.

From time to time I will hear someone say “I would die for you” in a profession of love but the test of this statement does not come when faced with the literal grave. The test of Jesus’s living words were given to be lived out everyday of our lives.

So what does that mean “that someone lay down his life”? I believe its a spiritual death to our human desires that Jesus is referring to here. That if we say we love someone, then our wants and desires are laid to rest, put in the grave for the sake of those we love.

Not by your profession, but ’how’ have you laid down your life today? That is your testimony of this scripture lived out.

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The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .”. God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source. -Utmost For His Highest

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Thoughts For Life’s Journey

George Matheson of Scotland echoes the discipline of his personal despair in his discipline of his personal despair in his book Thoughts for Life’s Journey when he book Thoughts for Life’s Journey when he writes: My soul, reject not the place of thy writes: My soul, reject not the place of thy prostration! It has ever been the robing prostration! It has ever been the robing room for royalty. Ask the great ones of room for royalty. Ask the great ones of the past what has been the spot of their the past what has been the spot of their prosperity; they will say, “It was the cold prosperity; they will say, “It was the cold ground on which I once was laying.” Ask ground on which I once was laying.” Ask Abraham; he will point you to the Abraham; he will point you to the sacrifice of Moriah. Ask Joseph; he will sacrifice of Moriah. Ask Joseph; he will direct you to his dungeon. Ask Moses; he direct you to his dungeon. Ask Moses; he will date his fortune from his danger in will date his fortune from his danger in the Nile. Ask Ruth; she will bid you build the Nile. Ask Ruth; she will bid you build her monument on the field of her toil. her monument on the field of her toil. Ask David; he will tell you that his songs Ask David; he will tell you that his songs came from the night. Ask Job; he will came from the night. Ask Job; he will remind you that God answered him out remind you that God answered him out of the whirlwind. Ask Peter; he will extol of the whirlwind. Ask Peter; he will extol his submission in the sea. Ask John; he his submission in the sea. Ask John; he will give the palm to Patmos. Ask Paul he will give the palm to Patmos. Ask Paul he will attribute his inspiration to the light will attribute his inspiration to the light that struck him blind. Ask one more-the that struck him blind. Ask one more-the Son of Man. Ask Him whence has come Son of Man. Ask Him whence has come His rule over the world. He will answer, His rule over the world. He will answer, “From the cold ground on which I was “From the cold ground on which I was lying-the Gethsemane ground; I received lying-the Gethsemane ground; I received my sceptre there.” Thou too, my soul, shalt be garlanded by Gethsemane. The cup thou fain wouldst pass from thee will be thy coronet in the sweet by-and-by. The hour of thy loneliness will crown thee. The day of thy depression will regale thee. It is the desert that will break forth into singing; it is the trees of thy silent forest that will clasp their hands.”

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The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Jesus said to her, ’Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ —John 11:40

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, “It’s all a lie”? When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42).

Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, “I believe ’God shall supply all [my] need,’ ” the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end . . .” (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God—trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6). -My Utmost For His Highest: Oswald Chambers

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“Rock Bottom”

A new look at the phrase “rock bottom”. Many people use this to say they’ve reached their lowest in life. When I hear that reference, I think about how when we reach our “bottom” in life, that’s where we find The Rock. He never leaves, its just that sometimes it takes us reaching the bottom to find Him. We can go to the depths and He is there. Though we walk through the valleys… He is there. When we reach “rock bottom”, He, The Rock himself, is there.