Humility and repentance always leads to life and grace.
Don’t underestimate the power of those words… humility, repentance, life and grace. Words that are not usually associated with power but words that unleash extreme power in the light of God’s story for us and eternity.
Why do we wear His word? I was reminded on two separate occasions this week the transforming power of wearing God’s word. A simple act yet with great reward.
I was out doing life as I normally do, doing normal things, being all normal and an acquaintance came up and asked, “I see you always wearing your “Jesus” shirts, I need a change. What church do you go to?” And we got to talking. A simple act of putting on His word opened a door to conversation of faith.
But to be honest, we design more to inspire those who wear. For example, the other day I was completely deflated, down in the dumps and just super bummed. I was sitting on my floor in the basement with my 1 ½ year old son playing cars. All of a sudden I’m startled out of my pity party with a matchbox car thrown right at my chest hitting the words on my sweatshirt, Be Still and Know. It’s like God himself took that little arm of my son to shake me and remind me… look, life is a little challenging but be still my child. I never promised it would be easy, but I did promise greatness one day. Keep walking through life with the Sovereign God who one day every knee shall bow down before. It will be worth it.
You are not a better Christian if you wear Jesus tees. God doesn’t love you more if scripture surrounds you. But wearing and surrounding yourself with the word of God does help guide, remind and even help you fall in love with God more. Those simple reminders bring us back to Him when life takes over. When troubles come our way and weary sets in, those promising words draw close. His word is powerful. His word is transforming. Wearing His word just helps remind us of this.
Jesus tells us to live in Him and He will live in us. That’s pretty crazy if you think about it. The Creator of heaven and earth. The One who writes history and knows each one of our stories wants to live in us. Each of us. It’s a mystery we don’t stand in awe of enough. Francis Chan writes this…
“We are invited into something deeper than what the Israelites experienced (Ex. 19:16-20). They stood at the base of the mountains and watched Moses ascend into the presence of God. Moses had the honor of speaking to God and hearing God answer him in thunder. As mind-blowing as that scene is, we are invited into something deeper. We are not just standing on the outside and staring at a Person in adoration. He calls us to actually enter Him, be filled with Him, and partake of Him. We are created in such a way that this is possible.”
The God whom people in the Old Testament would tremble at the site of and proclaim their unworthiness, wants to dwell within us. Think about that for a bit. Truly sit in how crazy that sounds! The God over all cares enough to come into each one of our lives. And not just make appearances but to walk along side us each step of the way guiding our journey in life. He wants to live in us and we live in Him.
This is a mystery we often take for granted. May we take time today… today and always, more than just moments past this blog read, to thank God for this outlandish, crazy, loving mystery of oneness with the Almighty.
I came across our blog post written years ago and find it moving enough to share again. I pray this is as encouraging to you as it was to me.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:6-7
God has been working on my heart. He's been preparing me. Preparing me for a trial.
My husband and I have two beautiful children, and several months ago we talked about embarking on the journey for number three. It wasn't long after, God placed on my heart that this time around would be a little harder. I didn't know what "harder" meant, but I soon found out. Steve and I had a miscarriage. But this blog is less about our miscarriage, and more about the peace and understanding God gave us. How he opened His arms when we cried out and welcomed us in. How he gave us that peace found in Philippians 4:7 that transcends all understanding. The peace that guards our hearts and minds.
Over the last year, Steve and I (separately) have been in bible studies that have deepened our faith tremendously. God used these two studies to strengthen our foundation found in Christ. And oh man, are we so full of joy that we had that foundation because those few days during our miscarriage were hard. So hard. I closet cried more and harder than I ever had. But the joy and peace is found here. I wasn't crying out to God. "Why?" or "how could you?" I cried out for God to protect me. To keep me strong. To allow me to feel the hurt while staying strong in my faith. To consume me with his loving peace. He then gave me the hope that we all hold onto. The hope of eternal life and to be rejoined with those we love.
As Jesus followers, we are all going to suffer for the Lord in one way or another. We should expect it. Over and over in the bible it tells us how suffering connects us to Christ, how it builds character and a confident hope in our salvation. We need to be prepared for these times of suffering so we don't fall away from God but grasp on stronger and harder to his promises than ever before.
The Philippians passage above gives us tools to prepare for these times. Prayer and His word. A constant connection with God to help fill your soul and mind. So when these inevitable trials come, we can fill our hearts with peace and our minds only with Christ Jesus and all that he is. A God that gave up His own son so we may have life. A just God who allowed us, sinners, to come before him as righteous people adopted as his children.
Many year ago before I truly accepted Christ, I had trials in my life and I fell deeper and deeper into sin and a trap of despair. But now with Christ as the center and letting God lead, I feel hope. I have a peace that transcends all understanding. I pray you find that too.
Grabbing hold of Him,
In his book, Until Unity, Francis Chan discusses this topic of separation. Comparing what we grieve versus what the scriptures grieve. What separates us as a people and then as followers. This book is not a feel good book. It's a call you out book. It's a "challenge you to do better" book. In fact, I've had to take reading it in strides as I've tried to reflect on his points and accept his challenges. With that said though, I've really enjoyed this book and wanted to share this particular quote that has stuck with me and to share my thoughts that I worked through one day after sitting with this quote.
"Often the things that bother us are not the things that bother God. Meanwhile, He is disturbed by things in which we seem indifferent." - Francis Chan
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We often talk about the superiority or the downfalls of a particular faith group or denominations. Why one is better than the other. Why Lutherans, Reformers, Catholics, Baptists do what they do. In a sense we align and pride ourselves on how we worship vs. who we worship. The how is what grieves us. Maybe our focus needs to shift and align with how the Lord grieves over our differences and why we can't just find unity in the one God, and the one Savior who died on that one cross that one night so many years ago coming back to life that one time to give us life for all eternity. I imagine this is what bothers God, - thousands of denominations of divisiveness versus one church finding unity in Christ.
I wonder if God is bothered about the amount of worship songs and hymns we sing on a given Sunday like we are? Or the fact that a church does or does not allow coffee in the worship center/sanctuary? Do you think He cares about the building we worship in? The style? Aesthetics?
I’ll just mention politics. And of course what bothers us in the political realm doesn’t come close to what bothers the Lord.
We are a divisive nation. A segregated church. There isn’t a lot of love oozing out of us to reach the unreached. Unity is not on the top of our list of worries. Why not?
Jesus speaks so often about oneness in the New Testament. Oneness with Him and each other. And we find oneness with love and sacrifice. If we aren’t living with those two things in mind, we are losing the basics of the Christian faith. Jesus himself lived a life full of love and sacrifice and even ended his life living out those two words for us.
So take a look today at what bothers you in life. Then in the church. Are those things that would bother God? Is what grieves you, what grieves Him? Most likely not. It wasn’t for me. So let’s take a moment to reset, shift, and turn our eyes to the Lord and His word and look to Him for what our hearts should be aligned with.
Then pray the simple prayer in words but powerful in action. “Break my heart for what breaks yours Lord.”
