Water Retention
Have you asked the Holy Spirit to fill you up? You can do that right now.
“For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:17)
My niece sent me an email about a woman lecturing on stress. She held up a glass of water and asked people to guess the weight. Then she said it didn’t matter how heavy it was now, but that it would feel heavier the longer she held it. If she didn’t set it down, her arm would start to ache, then cramp, then stiffen. She said that stress is like that. We can only carry it around for so long before it weighs us down and becomes a heavy load to bear. We need to occasionally let loose of the stress to give ourselves a rest. We need to set the glass down.
That’s good advice. It made me think of another way we try to handle stress – we drink the water! We swallow it down thinking it will go away and not be a burden. That may temporarily free up our hands to handle the rest of our lives, but the weight is still inside of us. We will feel bloated, uncomfortable and not ourselves. You get the point.
How much better to pour out our stress at the foot of the cross and hand Christ the empty glass. It’s easier said than done. But the more we do that and ask Him to refill the glass with Himself in our lives, the less room we will have for the stress water in our glass. He told the parched woman at the well in the midst of the heat of the day that He was the living water. He told her that those who drank of it would never thirst again. She asked for that water so she’d never have to come back to the well.
How often do we return to the well of stress and dip in our glass? How much stress water are we retaining, either in the glass or inside of us, pretending what can’t be seen by the world will no longer affect us? Pour out your cares to Jesus and let Him replenish you with His peace. When you drink in Jesus the living water there is less room for stress.
Don’t let your stress glass become unbearable. You may be sloshing it on others, drenching them in stress as well. Pour out your soul to Christ now so you can be filled instead with His love and thirst no more.
Dear God, You say in Your word that You are the God of peace. I need Your peace today. Help me to give my worries and problems to You so I can rest in the knowledge of who You are. Fill me up today, Amen.
Question: What are you carrying in your glass that you need to pour out so Christ can fill it with His peace?
Hard for the Rich to Enter the Kingdom
Are you ready to make Jesus the center of my life? Learn how to serve and obey Him anytime, anywhere, at any cost, to do anything.
“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” (Luke 18:24)
A man came to Jesus with a sincere question. He wanted to know how to gain eternal life. Obviously a religious man, he reported to Jesus that he had faithfully kept the commandments since childhood.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all record the story.
Tension builds as Jesus directs him to sell everything he owns, give to the poor and then follow Him. “When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” (Matthew 19:22)
Elsewhere, Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters.” (Matthew 7:24) God will not allow us to split allegiance between Him and another. He demands all of our worship.
We live in a material world that constantly draws our attention away from the spiritual realm. Wouldn’t the rich be in a better position to seek spiritual things, since the daily struggle for food and shelter presses less on them than the poor?
It boggled the disciples’ minds when Jesus said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). Jesus’ statement led them to ask, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25)
Jesus pointed out that stuff – property, money, possessions – gets in the way of our relationship with God; material things all make it harder to enter His kingdom. A sobering thought for all who live in the western culture of materialism.
Therefore gratefulness fills me as I read Jesus’ closing words. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”(Matthew 19:26)
God, I know I am wealthy compared to most of the world. Please don’t let it keep me from entering Your kingdom. I want to seek You alone and give up whatever stands in the way of me following You.
Questions: Why do you think it’s hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven? Why is pretending we’re not rich dangerous?
Salvation Helps Us To View Sin Differently
“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” (Romans 6:17)
I understand exactly what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “You used to be slaves to sin.” But I didn’t understand it until I was born again. Salvation gave me a whole different perspective about the life I used to live.
The truth is I can’t believe some of the things I did, not to mention some of the things I said. It never registered with me that the lifestyle I had chosen was nothing more than a life of sin. In fact, I never gave it a second thought. I saw nothing wrong with how I was living. That is, not until I asked Jesus to come live in my heart.
Sin is natural for the unbeliever. Just like taking a breath, it’s not something I thought about. I was programmed to do it and did not have the moral compass to point me in the right direction.
But I have that compass now. Sin is no longer the natural thing for me to do because just as the Paul promised, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
That‘s an important point for the Christian to understand. It is no longer natural for us to sin. That’s why Numbers 15:30 says, “But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the Lord.” To put it more bluntly, you cannot think of your body as a temple for the Holy Spirit and also believe that sin is the natural thing to do.
The Bible makes it clear that Christians can and will sin. But when we do sin, an alarm is supposed to go off and we are expected to do something about it. In other words, habitual sin is no longer a choice for us. The Apostle John put it this way: “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9)
If you’re continuing to commit the same old sins, day in and day out, something is terribly wrong. Habitual sin is evidence of rebellion and rebellion will affect the quality of your relationship with Christ. Paul realized that when he said, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2) Paul knew and taught that continued sin would adversely affect our faith, the very thing that makes a relationship with God possible.
If you stop and think about it, sin and unbelief are closely related because sin takes the air right out of our faith, and the loss of faith will inevitably distance us from God. Hebrews 3:12-14 bears this out. The writer warns us against unbelief, which will lead to a departure from the living God, and mentions the deceitfulness of sin as the cause of unbelief. He reminds us that we are Christians only if we “hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first”.
So what’s the answer? How do we escape the destruction that sin brings to life? Jesus said, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:16) In other words, when the Holy Spirit convicts you about something you’re doing, stop doing it. Ask the Lord to help you with it. Seek his forgiveness and allow him to help you change. Ezekiel said is this way: “Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.” (Ezekiel 18:30)
Dreams Deferred
What to do when God has you waiting .
“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34)
Have you ever had a dream that didn’t come true? Have you ever had one that you felt God gave to you and you are still waiting for it to happen? I have had a dream since I was a child that I’m still waiting to see come to fruition and I have lived almost a half a century. I believe that it is a desire that God has put in my heart, at times it has been a burning passion and at other times just a quiet longing.
Why does God put a dream in our heart and have us WAIT?
My dream is to go on a mission’s trip. When I was little my parents were missionaries in Alaska. Then we moved to Sacramento, California and my world fell apart. I didn’t want to live in California and I purposed in my heart that when I grew up I was going to become a missionary (in a foreign land) and get even with God for moving me. I’m sure you can see that wasn’t such a great strategy!
In High School I seriously looked at going on a mission’s trip with Teen Missions but that didn’t pan out. When I was in college, I began to pursue my goal even more and it was at a Missions Retreat of all places that God confronted me with my selfish desire to become a missionary. He asked me a pretty tough question, “Kristi, will you be willing to follow me if I never allow you to be a missionary in a foreign country?” That question broke me as I realized how I was really pursuing my own passions and desires rather than God’s, even though it was cloaked in the idea that I was “serving God”. That day I let go of my desires and surrendered to God’s desires for me.
But as I’ve grown and learned what God desires for me, I have felt an increasing, genuine passion to serve God on the mission field. And as the years have passed my passion seems to be increasing rather than decreasing. Yet I still have not been able to go.
I have watched my children and friends go on missions trips. I’ve even seen my husband who doesn’t seem to have a burning desire to go, travel with a music team to the islands of St. Kitts and St. Martin. A few years ago, I came really close to being able to go and just weeks before I was to leave the trip was cancelled. Why does God put within me this burning desire and yet I am still waiting for it to come to pass?
I don’t have an answer.
Romans 11:33-34 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
Who am I to give the Lord advice? But this I do KNOW – God is GOOD and His plans are for my good and not to harm me, that His timing is not my timing. God is at work even in the waiting and I choose to trust Him even though I don’t understand.
Father God, You know the longings of my heart, even the dreams that are so precious I can hardly bear to say them out loud. Help me not to grow weary when the wait is long. I know that Your timing is perfect. Remind me of that when it feels like You are late. I know that You are never late and You have not forgotten me. Draw me close to You I pray. Amen.
Questions: What are you waiting for? What dreams do you have that you have not seen come true? Will you truth God even though you don’t understand?
Divine Disturbance
Are you facing challenges today? How can we pray for you?
“Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1)
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? . . . But I trust in your unfailing love. . .” (Psalm 13:1,5)
Jesus broke into first century religious Jewry when He challenged the view that material prosperity proved God’s blessing and approval. Could it be that Jesus is seeking to break into twenty-first century, Western, conservative Christianity in a similar way? Could He be saying that material comfort, good health, and picture-perfect families are not necessarily indicators of God’s blessing?
In The Voice of Jesus, author Gordon T. Smith writes, “We cannot assume that a comfortable lifestyle is necessarily a sign of God’s blessing… (We must be) alert to the way in which Jesus may want to disturb rather than comfort us… Through the illumination of our minds, the Spirit challenges our basic cultural assumption; the gospel is countercultural.” (Emphasis mine)
Immediately after Job’s friends misdiagnosed his condition we hear the thunderous question of God: Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? I love the way Eugene Peterson so vividly paraphrases it in The Message: Why do you confuse the issue? Why do you talk without knowing what you’re talking about?
Only after God’s roaring description of His character and actions is Job finally able to say: “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” (Job 42:5) It was Divine Disturbance that finally revealed truth.
Father, Help me not to lose sight of You when I’m faced with circumstances that I do not want to deal with. Draw me closer to You. Amen.
Question: Has God ever used your circumstances to speak to you? Why do we assume that God’s best is the same thing as our comfort?
Rebuilding Old Ruins In Christ
Rediscover the beauty of forgiveness
“And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.”
Isaiah 61:4, NKJV
This Scripture really spoke to me this morning as I thought of how so many of us come from places of brokenness, of loss, of deep wounding. We can sometimes wonder if wholeness is a real possibility for us again, or is it just a pipe dream?
I do not believe Jesus is the Author of pipe dreams. Nor is He the author of confusion and the chaos that comes from our addictions and sin and life-controlling problems. But He is the Author of Life, the Author of the rich, eternal, abundant Life that flows forth from within His Spirit and up into our hearts and spirits as He pours His love and hope into our hearts:
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5, NKJV)
Does this bring you hope today? Hope in your Heavenly Father? Hope in the Holy Spirit, your Comforter? Hope in Jesus? I pray that it does, for the Lord has given us His fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV84). They are available and accessible to every one of us who believe in Him. All of these things, He showed me this morning, are building blocks on which we can reclaim that which was destroyed in our lives, reconstructing it using the truth, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ as our Mortar to hold our foundation “stones” together. For He is our Sure Foundation on Whom we are to build our house! He is the One in Whom we can trust to always be there for us, to never abandon nor forsake us:
5 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] 6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?
(Hebrews 13:5-6, Amplified Bible)
So let us praise the Lord, for He will never let us down, and He is the One on Whom we can depend as we rebuild our broken lives one stone, one brick at a time with Him as the Mortar, with Him as our Strong Foundation, all the while praying for trustworthy brothers and sisters to come alongside us with whom we can pray and in whom we can confide and share our experience, strength, hope, and faith in recovery. Let us tear down our walls of rebellion and pride and shame and build a new and abundant Life with the firm Foundation being Christ Jesus, along with our brothers and sisters in Him.
Lord Jesus, help us to turn to You with deep faith and hope in the promises You give us in Your Word of Truth as we look to You as our Sure Foundation; take us by the hand and guide us as we seek to tear down walls of shame, rebellion, and dysfunction and rebuild the ruins of our former lives that we may flourish in the eternal, abundant Life You have won for us. In Your holy and precious name we pray. Amen.
Questions: Is your past holding you back from a glorious future in Christ? What can you do to help place your hope in Jesus as your Sure Foundation?
The Kingdom of Heaven Belongs to Such as These
Learn how to pray with confidence. This six part series from Campus Crusade founder Dr. Bill Bright will revitalize your prayer life.
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
After Jesus describes what the kingdom of heaven is like He explains who can enter His kingdom. The world around us promotes the rich, the powerful, the athletic, the beautiful and the intelligent. Not so with God’s kingdom.
His list looks quite different:
· “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
· “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)
· “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’” (Matthew 19:14)
· “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20)
· “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?” (James 2:5)
We understand that humility and complete trust in God form the baseline of essential qualities for entering God’s kingdom. Yet something deeper and less attractive pushes into my mind as I ponder these verses. What do children have in common with the poor and the persecuted? They’re powerless.
I want a guaranteed way into the kingdom of heaven. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. But the truth is that we are all powerless to enter God’s kingdom. It’s beyond us. We need Jesus Christ to make us right with God. Acknowledging our powerlessness is the first step toward entering God’s kingdom. Needy and friendless people can enter the kingdom. Incompetent and helpless people are welcome. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
Heavenly Father, help me to acknowledge my poverty and powerlessness. I come to You, not on my own merit, but through the blood of Jesus. Amen.
Question: Why do we resist powerlessness?
A GOOD RECORD KEEPER?
My basement was filled with loads of boxes of papers; all the work of our years ago homeschooling journey. I have bins of notebooks filled with important information, bookshelves of important books, and more. I keep stuff, important stuff, just in case it may be needed in the future. I keep accounts of all our business. I’m a wonderful record keeper. Unfortunately, there are some records I shouldn’t be keeping.
I was in conversation the other day talking with a dear friend. It wasn’t a particularly earth shattering conversation, but just chit chat, when I realized that I had mentioned someone I knew. In fact I heard myself relaying a past hurt that I had endured at this person’s hand. I felt the prodding.
On another day, there was another conversation and another past hurt recounted. I felt the prodding again. All week every time I opened my mouth, I felt the prodding because I was recalling another hurt I had endured. Before long, the prodding was so insistent, I stopped talking long enough to listen to that still small voice to my heart and soul.
My words spoke of hurts that should have been forgiven and forgotten long ago. I recounted the stories as if they had just happened. I was stunned and embarrassed. My pride was hurt again, for I was caught up in sin again. Apart from my pride, my heart was pricked with guilt and shame at having so easily brought to mind the hurts of the past.
I was reminded of Stephen’s words in Acts 7:60: “And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.” (KJV) Jesus’ words in Luke 23:34a: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” I had surely violated the rules of forgiveness by keeping a charge against those who had wounded me.
What are the rules of forgiveness?
Forgive – Jesus said, “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” in Matthew 6:12. He continued in verse 14: “For if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” The penalty for unforgiveness is being unforgiven. How could I expect God to forgive me if I was not forgiving others?
Cover – Paul in the Book of Romans which primarily speaks of the issue of salvation had this to say about forgiveness: “Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” (Romans 4:7) Rather than speaking of the sin of others, I should have forgiven them. Proof of my forgiveness was to cover their sin. The understanding here is that forgiveness brings the covering of Christ when He forgives the repentant. Likewise I should be as willing to cover it; to count it as over and done with.
Forget – David wrote in Psalm 103:12, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” God forgets all about our sin, once He has forgiven it. He forgives when we repent and confess our guilt. Then He is quick to restore. Complete restoration cannot take place without forgetfulness on our part. Being forgetful of other people’s sin allows us to move past the hurt and betrayal. We may never fully forget; it seems humanly impossible, but it is do-able in the power of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to make the effort.
When I realized I was keeping records of past hurts, I was appalled because I know what the Scripture says. I am thankful for the reminder by the Holy Spirit. It is good to be called to task when we demonstrate unChristlike behavior. I don’t want to be guilty of hurting others with my words or most of all, hurting my Lord because of unforgiveness. I am thankful for His forgiveness.
Copyright © 2012 Linda Hull, Words of Encouragement
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He Calls Your Name
Is it hard to believe that God really love you? Come talk to a mentor.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…for your souls”. (Matthew 11:28-29)
“God, they say you love us, but do you really mean me?”
“God loves you!” We hear it from time to time. Sometimes it is offered as somewhat of a Band-Aid to a difficult problem we face. Sometimes it’s on a billboard or on a grandmother’s lips. But does it really make much difference if He does or if He doesn’t? And if God really does love me, does it actually affect me where I live and walk today? Does God’s love matter in any practical way to me?
Most of us have no trouble believing in a higher power. Nearly every 12-step help program acknowledges the need of it. Most people say, “Yes” when asked if they believe in God, but that’s often about as far as it goes. Little rituals, memorized prayers, desperate pleas for God to get us out of the scrapes we get ourselves into, that seems to be the extent of most know about God.
Yet His Word, the Holy Bible, tells of a very loving God who longs to be in relationship with us. The Father’s heart, to us, His children, is tender. His arms are open and His invitation is “Come”.
Sometimes His call to “come” cannot be heard. Sometimes the filters on the heart are clogged with the sad truth that perhaps one’s own father may not have provided a good example of loving. Sometimes we do not believe His love could be for us as an individual. Oh, we know others whom God could surely love, but me? “No”, we think, “not if He really knew me.”
There are times in our lives when God calls our name. He asks us not to harden our hearts to Him, but to respond and to come. “God loves you” is a deeply profound statement that will change your life if you will let it. Dare to explore the depth of this love. Dare to turn your head and hear Him calling your name. You will never be sorry.
Father God,
I hear You calling my name and feel the tug of Your love on my heart. Help me to believe You really do mean me. Help me to open my heart door wide and allow You to flood my life with Your love, Your peace and Your strength. Amen.
Question: Is God tugging on your heart today? How will you respond to Him?
Short Suffering Friends
When our hearts are heavy with sadness, others don’t always feel the same depth of pain. Friends and family members may try to jolly us along. They want us to be happy because our sadness is dragging them down.
All we want to do is be alone, cry healing tears, treasure a little peace and quiet, and ponder what to do under the circumstances. Instead we hear words like this.
“So you lost your job. Big deal. Let’s go out to dinner.”
“So your mom has Alzheimer’s. How is that your problem? I’ll see you at the picnic.
“Get over it! Your husband has been dead for two months already. Get a life. Lighten up.
Your constant crying is depressing.”
These are actual comments reported by suffering people; comments made by others who should have known better; comments that both hurt and stir up resentment. I won’t begin to tell you the kind of things well-meaning friends said to me when my husband died.
Psalm 137:3- for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”(NIV)
Where can we go in the midst of our suffering, when friends don’t understand? There is only one place that offers healing to every situation.
Psalm 119:50-This is my comfort and consolation in my affliction: that Your word has revived me and given me life (AMP).
Of course the time will come when we are able to enjoy life again and face the future in the midst of our new circumstances. We will indeed be able to sing again.
Psalm 119:154-Plead my cause and redeem me; revive me and give me life according to Your word (AMP)
Until then?
Prayer-Lord, we cling to your promise in Psalm 138:7a. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me (AMP). Amen
Brenda J Wood
http://heartfeltdevotionals.wordpress.com
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