Tag: faith

The Lord Is Near

The Lord Is Near

Carolyn

What do you do when you can’t sleep? Sometimes I simply wait it out, eventually falling back to sleep. While I suppose that keeps me in a restful state waiting on sleep to return, I also later feel those were wasted hours! Sometimes then, I’ll get up to read or pray, in hopes it will make me sleepy, so at least I can feel like I was being productive!

Last Saturday night, when I couldn’t sleep, I got up to pray. Three verses came to mind:

“The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5-7).

“Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8a).

I don’t remember how I arrived at thinking about those verses and the nearness of the Lord. I think I was praying for friends who had lost a loved one, grieving with them, praying for the nearness of God to their broken hearts. My mind probably then took off on the theme of God’s nearness and where else we find that word in Scripture, those being familiar passages to me.

When I got up later that Sunday morning, I started reading “Preparing for the Lord’s Day,” a weekly post our church puts out to prepare us for worship. In it, it said, “To prepare for worship, spend time reading and meditating on… Psalm 34:15–22, Philippians 4:4–7…, and James 5:13–18.”

Two of those passages contained the verses I had pondered in the night, and the third one was one chapter later, but only a page away in my Bible. The sermon focus was not on the nearness of God, but on how God calls every Christian to pray. But it was interesting to see those three Scriptures again being reinforced.

Yesterday, I was looking up a devotional book at Amazon, glancing quickly at the sample pages. The sample devotional started with, “The Lord is near….” quoting after it those verses from Philippians 4:5-7. This sample devotional page from the book was in the context of anxiety: “if the Lord is near, everything changes. You aren’t alone, and the one who is in control, to order and provide, he’s near and he cares for you and he is involved.” (David Powlison).

Today, I opened my photos to go back and find a photo with a friend from a visit I remembered in 2018, and beside those photos was this random one I had saved 7 years ago, not even remembering it, nor now knowing its source:

What do we make of times where the Lord keeps bringing a repeated message? I’m not sure, but one thing, if nothing else, is simply encouragement. We can be encouraged with the message that comes to us through God’s Word and in prayer. We may or may not see an exact application, but we can remember it and hold on to it.

Who couldn’t be encouraged with the thought that, in all of our circumstances, the Lord is near. He sees you, He knows you, He knows what you are going through, He knows your joys and your sorrows, and He is near. Not distant, but right there with you, drawing near to you when you draw near to Him. The Lord is near; we have no reason to fear!

That’s a message I can go with today! Perhaps it will encourage you too.

“But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
Psalm 73:28

Christ My Strength

Christ My Strength

Carolyn

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Most mornings, I wake up with a song in my head. It’s surprising how often the song is exactly what I need. A little bit of manna to start the day!

This morning, Katy Nichole’s Song “My God Can” was ringing in my mind. It reminded me of Philippians 4:13 at this part of the song:

I can do all things, all things, through Christ who gives me strength.
I can do all things, all things, cause His Spirit lives in me.

I came down for my coffee and came across this mug (pictured at the top of this post) that I had pulled forward from the back of the cabinet a day or two ago. On April 25, 2012, I spoke at the Women’s Bible Study brunch that wraps up our yearlong Bible study at church. It was my testimony of Christ as our strength, my Rock! That same day was “Administrative Professionals Day,” which I didn’t even know existed! But my boss and his wife had a gift on my desk that morning that included this mug with Philippians 4:13 on it! As my friend would say, it was a “God wink”! Christ my strength, the focus of my talk, now highlighted on the mug, encouraging me for the talk I was about to give.

Walking with my coffee then to get my Bible and read this morning, singing the song, holding the mug, I found myself out of the blue repeating the five statement pledge of faith from Beth Moore’s Bible study Believing God that I did back in 2005. I haven’t thought about those words in a very long time, but they say, “God is who He says He is, God can do what He says He can do, I am who God says I am, I can do all things through Christ, God’s Word is alive and active in me, I’m believing God.” I wondered why I was saying that. And I realized “I can do all things through Christ” is the verse from Philippians 4:13!

I always loved that pledge of faith because it first tells me who God is and what He can do, then who I am and what I can do through Him, then gives a reminder that His Word is alive and active in me as I study it, and concludes that based on those things, I can trust and believe God. I will believe God because He is trustworthy and able to be believed. It strengthens my faith to believe Him more.

Whatever we are going through in life today, we can believe God for those situations, every single one of them: “I’m believing God.” Based on that testimony of faith, I can bring Him all my needs and trust that, as Katy Nichole sang, my God can! And I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Rest in this truth today!

Weekend Wrap-up

Carolyn

These are just some quick thoughts as I wrap up the last week or two that have been on my mind.

  • I heard a lady on the radio yesterday giving her testimony. She had been living a really rough life, and she wanted to know if God was real. She shared how God revealed Himself in this moment of crisis in an unmistakable way. At the end of the call, she threw in this statement that has stuck with me: “I wasn’t looking for God to change my life; I only wanted to know if He was real. But once I knew that He was real, my life was changed.” I loved that thought. When we experience the reality of who God is and what Christ has done for us, we will be changed!

IMG_7291

  • I went to a cross country match to watch a family friend run. What I loved was seeing him at the end, even though he was surely tired, sprint to the finish, even overtaking another runner at the very last moment. This running with the end in sight, with a focus on the finish, was a picture to me of how to run the life of faith which is compared in Scripture at times to a race:

    Hebrews 12:1-2: “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

  • This week we celebrated the day that my daughter came home from the hospital 14 years ago ago after a three month stay. She was born three months prematurely (27 weeks along, 2 pounds) and came home on her original due date. It’s hard to pass milestone moments like these without pausing again to remember and give thanks to God for her life and His protection over her and for the many miraculous ways we saw His hand at work during those challenging days. These are indeed stones of remembrance.

100_6234

  • Then finally we wrapped up the football season for my son this week. It was a great season, and I am glad to see his hard work and discipline in the sport, his great coaches who use the sport as a means to bring gospel truths into their lives, and the friendships he has developed.

IMG_7271

Verses for the Day – Galatians 3:10-14

Carolyn

Note: To find out about the verses for the day, click here. And to read the other posts in the Galatians series, click here. (They appear in reverse order.)

My son and I sometimes watch the “Amazing Race.” It’s a great study in human behavior and opens up some good conversations. We enjoy learning about places all over the world, and it has inspired my son to want to be a world traveler.

In the “Amazing Race,” one man and his wife made a mistake by booking their airline tickets before they got to the airport. When they realized the error, he said it was half his fault. He was prepared to take part of the blame. He was measuring out who was responsible and justifying himself for part of his actions.

In contrast, another man, a Christian snowboarder, was irritable, jealous that he did not get to participate in one of the more thrilling tasks of speed racing a car. He acknowledged his sin, asked the Lord for forgiveness, and allowed the Lord take his anger and jealousy over the situation, and he became free. He depended on God’s grace.

This contrast is a picture of what we see in the verses for today from Galatians 3:10–14:

“10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ 12 But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’ – 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Paul is quoting from Old Testament Scriptures (Deuteronomy 27:26 in verse 10; Habakkuk 2:4 in verse 11; Leviticus 18:5 in verse 12; and Deuteronomy 21:23 in verse 13).

Paul points out that if we are under the works of the law, we are under the curse, because the Scriptures (Deut. 27:26) teach us that everyone who does not continue in all things written in the law is cursed. As human beings who sin and make mistakes, we could never fully carry out the law and its requirements and demands. In this failure, we would come under a curse.

But Paul goes on to tell us the incredible news that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Deut. 21:23). Christ a curse for you and me so that we are not cursed. Ponder that amazing truth!

How then do we live? Not by the law, but by faith. Verse 12 tells us that the law is not of faith. They are not the same. The righteous shall live by faith and receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

This is what the snowboarder seemed to understand. He was walking by faith and dependence on Christ for his forgiveness and justification. The first man was living by law, accepting some of his mistakes and doling out the appropriate blame for others to carry. He was living dependent on himself.

The law brings a curse, and Paul will explain its role in further detail later in Galatians. For now, delight in the truth that Jesus saves us by grace through faith, not of ourselves or any works or keeping of the law that we could do because that would never be enough. Christ alone is sufficient to save us. Praise Him!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that you would stoop to reach us. Thank you that you humbled yourself to death on a cross to take our curse and shame and guilt and sin, and give us your righteousness by faith in you. Let this glorious truth sink deeply within our hearts and take root so that we might not live in our own strength but by yours and in the power of your Spirit. Free us by this truth to not live legalistic lives, but ones of faith in you, praising you for all you have done. In Jesus name, Amen.

Verses for the Day – Galatians 3:6-9

Carolyn

Note: To find out about the verses for the day, click here. And to read the other posts in the Galatians series, click here. (They appear in reverse order.)

In Genesis 15, God told childless Abraham he would have an heir from his own body and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Though this could have seemed unbelievable to Abraham given his and Sarah’s old age, Gen. 15:6 says that Abraham “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

This is the verse (Gen. 15:6) that is referenced in our passage today, Galatians 3:6-9:

6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

Abraham’s faith demonstrates the previous thought from Galatians 3:1-5 that we receive the Spirit and continue in the Spirit by faith, not by works. God had supplied the Spirit and worked miracles among them by the “hearing of faith,” not by the “works of the law,” just as Abraham had believed God.

This Scripture passage then clarifies that the ones who are children of Abraham are the ones who are of faith. This then is not speaking of his physical descendants as being his sons, but of his spiritual descendants, those of faith.

What an interesting thought that the Scriptures preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand – before Christ and the cross. Verse 8 is a reference to Genesis 12:3 which says, “in you [Abraham] all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

As Christians this side of the cross, looking back, we have a fuller picture of what this all means. Abraham believed what God said, God’s promise to him, with perhaps much less known to him of how it would come to pass. In fact, he even died without seeing the promise fulfilled (Hebrews 11:8-13). But it’s this picture of faith that should encourage us to also believe, and this faith that makes us true children of Abraham.

PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for saving us by faith in Christ, not by our works through which we could never do good enough to attain heaven and repair what sin has done. You, Lord Jesus, did it all for us! You died and rose again! By grace through faith in you, we can know you and live eternally – just as Abraham received you, by faith. What an incredible thought that we come through this same line of these faithful patriarchs. May we walk with you and please you today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.