Verse for the Day – Matthew 14:29-31

Carolyn
Our family went to see the movie Son of God last night. Today’s verses are selected as I considered my favorite scene from the movie: Jesus walking on the water and Peter coming out to Him.The verses then that I picked today are from Matthew 14:29-31:

“He [Jesus] said, ‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ‘Lord, save me.’ 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (ESV)

I loved this picture because I think so often when Jesus calls us to Himself or to something He has for us, we can be like Peter and jump out of the boat enthusiastically to follow Jesus. But when adversity comes (like the storm and waves), if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and believe what we know to be true about Him, we will fall.

We see this all throughout the Bible. John the Baptist, born to make the way for Jesus, baptized Him and was obediently and joyfully fulfilling the call on his life, but when he was arrested (adversity came), he asks of Jesus, “Are you the One?” (Matthew 11:3)  Suddenly, things don’t seem as clear.

We saw it in the movie. People would follow Jesus, but when other people would question whether He was really the Messiah, it was easy to doubt and wonder: “Wait, is he really the Messiah?” We saw Thomas doubt and Peter deny Jesus.

Perhaps the same people who said on Palm Sunday, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” would later cry out, “Crucify Him!”

We are human, and we can be fickle and easily swayed by the difficult circumstances or opinions around us.

In our own day, I see people (or sometimes myself) who enthusiastically follow a call Jesus gives them, and then when that call turns out to be really hard and costly (which we should expect), they (or I) wonder, “Wait, were we really supposed to do that?”

But let’s fix our eyes on Jesus and ask Him to increase our faith. Then when the waves come and we feel tossed about, we actually will stand firm in Christ who will steady and uphold us and prove Himself faithful, that He is indeed the One!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, please increase our faith. Make us ones who believe You and who don’t doubt, even when life’s storms come and our circumstances are hard. Help us to fix our eyes on You and not the things around us. And may we find You faithful, as you fully are. We love You, Lord Jesus, and thank and praise You that you would die a cruel death so that we might live. Let us then live for You, in full faith, believing You are the One and looking to you each day. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Colossians 3:23-24

Carolyn

I’ve started something new with my children – sending them a verse or two a day by email for reflection. These are verses that God brings to mind as I read and pray in the morning. I thought I would post them here as well to have a record of them, and to keep me accountable to the project daily.

Today, March 8, the verses God brought to mind were from Colossians 3:23-24:

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (ESV)

Wherever we work (our places of employment, our schools, or in our home), we want to do our work for the Lord, not for men. The Lord will actually reward us for our faithful work done as unto Him.

I have found that sometimes this verse is an encouragement to me, when I haven’t always cared for the work I’m doing or enjoyed the people I’m working for – to give me a bigger vision that I am working and serving the Lord, so do it with my whole heart.

And sometimes, the verse has been a caution to me, when I’ve liked the work I’m doing so much and the people I’m working for so much that I start to want to impress them and do the work for their praise instead of the Lord’s!

So do your work, whatever it is (school, housework, etc.), to please the Lord, to do it with your whole heart, to believe that He will reward you for that, to be motivated by His approval rather than man’s. When this motivates us, we will want to give our very best at whatever we do, for Him!

Prayer: Lord, please give us hearts to do our work as unto You, knowing it is You that we serve, and You who will give us a reward. Please show us this and help us to remember the way you have designed this to work out, so that we don’t waste our time working for the praise of man or our selfish gain, but for You and Your glory. We love you, Lord. Amen.

This Day All His Mercies Are New

Carolyn

I’ll return to the series on calling soon, but as I watch the sun rise this morning, I’m again reminded, as I so often am at the beginning of the day, of God’s great love and mercy toward us.

When I see a sunrise, I think of hesed, the Hebrew word for God’s loyal love and covenantal kindness toward His people, so often expressed in the Old Testament when we see the “LORD” (the all caps LORD in the OT indicates a reference to Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God revealed to Moses by four consonants, YHWH, the tetragrammaton).

Read these well-known verses:

Lamentations 3:23-25 “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!’ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.” (NKJV)

The sunrise reminds us again of the mercies, compassion, and unfailing love of the LORD that are new every morning. Praise the LORD! As I type, the sunlight rests on my hands, and I am praising the LORD for hope, a new day, His faithfulness, His steadfast love, His mercy, and His compassion toward us.

It also brings to mind the verses in Luke 1:78-79, where Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, is prophesying. The whole prophecy (verse 67-79) is worth reading, but I focus here on verse 78-79:

“Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (NAS, emphasis mine)

What beautiful prophecy of the coming Messiah, Jesus, who was and is the “Sunrise from on high” – what a picture! – bringing light to darkness and guiding our feet in the way of peace.

As the sun rises and shines on me even now, I ponder His love and mercy and remember the Sunrise from on high who brought light to our dark world, salvation in His coming. Praise You this new day, Jesus! In You I hope and wait and receive with joy and thankfulness your love and mercy.

Calling: The Spirit-Filled Life

Carolyn

This post is the next in a series on calling. We’ve looked at our identity in Christ, following Jesus, finding our purpose and satisfaction in Jesus, surrendering our lives to God, and now the Spirit-filled life.

When my husband was in seminary, I invited a friend to a Christmas service at the church we attended. It opened the door for me to share the gospel with her, to tell her about Jesus dying for her sins and how by faith in Him she could be saved. At the end of our conversation, she asked, “So what’s the difference?” She wanted to know what the difference was between her and me, between a believer and an unbeliever, that was so distinct.

I had been raised in a Christian home, attended a Christian school for 13 years, grew up in a Bible-believing church, and always known about Jesus. I had had doubts at points, but I lived a life wanting to do what was right; there was no obvious rebellion. By nature, my personality tends to be a “rule keeper,” so it wasn’t hard to always look good. I had seasons where I attended Bible studies, particularly in college, and wanted to know and grow, and I wanted to see my friends turn to Jesus. There was authenticity in this. My life was committed to a certain direction. I had married the preacher’s son, and we had headed off to seminary to begin our own lives of ministry.

Looking back, I wasn’t aware of something I was missing: the Spirit-filled life. I was living life in my own strength, doing my best to keep the rules, and I don’t remember actually having much joy, much less a sense of calling or assurance of my faith in Christ.

When I returned home that night from the Christmas program, I shared with my husband about my friend’s question. I told him I wasn’t sure what to say. He said, “Well, did you tell her about the Holy Spirit?” And I honestly had to think about what he was telling me. Huh? The Holy Spirit, oh yeah. How had I missed this truth?

God gives us His Holy Spirit when we are saved. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to live and guides us in truth. My Bible has a list of the works of the Spirit, and it includes: speaks in Scriptures, regenerates, indwells, anoints, baptizes, guides, empowers, sanctifies, bears witness, helps, gives joy, gives discernment, bears fruit, gives gifts, comforts, illuminates the mind, reveals the things of God.

Jesus said in John 14:15-17:

“If  you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”  (NKJV)

We can quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) or we can be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). This is an incredible gift, a gift of God Himself in the life of the believer. And it changes everything.

It would be about another 10 years before I came to understand more about the life of the Spirit, and it came through surrender of my life to God, on my knees, in obedience, looking to Jesus. The Spirit then came and began showing me the plans God had for my life, and they were good, and He brought joy. I really long for people to know this truth of God’s Spirit lived in and through us, not living in our own strength, but relying on Him. We can’t live this life in our own strength or with our own power. All of this is ours in Christ. Praise You, Lord.