COLOSSIANS 1:11

COLOSSIANS 1:11

STRENGHTHENED WITH ALL MIGHT, ACCORDING TO HIS GLORIOUS POWER, FOR ALL PATIENCE AND LONGSUFFERING WITH JOY.

Recently God has been showing me that I am absolutely nothing without Him. It has been such a sobering yet reassuring blessing, believe me. I learned the hard way that I cannot do anything within my own power. But through the Lord alone, I find strength and courage to take on each day. Before I knew this I don’t think I’d ever had an abundant source of joy in my life. Not even when I got the part in the play, not even when the boy finally liked me back, not even on my best day where everything was going my way. Being someone who struggles with extremely pessimistic tendencies, this made me feel hopeless like nothing would ever fill me the way I needed it to. I never found peace in my way because my way wasn’t Gods way for me. This is an everyday battle for me, but with the Lord on my side I know I’ll always come out the other side stronger than the last time. Now here I am today finding true, unexplainable joy in washing peoples dishes, making my bed, and cleaning the toilet. The joy He’s given me is overflowing to the point where I can’t help but want to pour out onto others. I’m not doing it my way anymore; I’m doing it Gods way. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.” (James 1:2-3)

1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8

1 TIMOTHY 6:6-8

NOW GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT IS GREAT GAIN. FOR WE BROUGHT NOTHING INTO THIS WORLD, AND IT IS CERTAIN WE CAN CARRY NOTHING OUT. AND HAVING FOOD AND CLOTHING, WITH THESE WE SHALL BE CONTENT.

“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” Discontentment has lead me to actively move away from the Lord because I didn’t think He was speaking to me so I naturally stopped seeking Him. I want my walk to be developing quickly and effortlessly, but that thought alone makes me realize that I have to take two huge steps back and realize that way of thinking is only going to lead me straight back to the shallow, convenient relationship I had always known with the Lord. That’s the opposite of what He wants for me, He wants to shatter the limits I’ve set for myself, push me beyond where I ever thought I could go, and take me deeper to where I have no choice but to trust in Him and find all my contentment in Him. So that I can take one step at a time, one foot in front of the other, finding appreciation in the process, going at the pace the Lord has for me. Being still and waiting on Him rather than trying to force myself into a finished product I’ll never become. “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Knowing how little I matter to the world puts contentment into perspective. I am nothing; I deserve nothing. That’s a hard pill for me to swallow, but its critical for me to take it down in order to cure my crippling desire for significance. “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21) My value is found in Him. I need to get back to that. While I feel so out of touch with myself, The Lord still knows my heart. He knows the great amount of patience, faith, trust, and mercy I need. But until I’m content with where He has me right now, I’ll always be blind to what He’s trying to teach me. 

PSALM 111:10

PSALM 111:10

THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM; A GOOD UNDERSTANDING HAVE ALL THOSE WHO DO HIS COMMANDMENTS. HIS PRAISE ENDURES FOREVER.

The word fear is tricky because we immediately associate it with other words like terror, worry, horror, fright, and dread. However, the fear of The Lord is so different. We must know that God is in control of all things, whether we like it or not. He knows the beginning, middle, and the end. Every thought we’ve ever had and will have; move we’ve ever made and will make. He set every single thing we know of in motion. He gifted us with commandments because He knows our ways and what is best for us. Knowing how all-powerful God is and that He holds all that we know as life in the very palm of His hand is fearing Him. Deuteronomy 4:1-9, talks about keeping Gods commands and how we will prosper and have life by holding fast to the Lord. The word fear is not mentioned in this passage, but its clearly talking about what it means to be wise in following God’s statutes and judgments.

I think the most effective way to take this verse is quite literally. God gave us a book of instruction to navigate truthfully and uprightly through His world. Unfortunately, we constantly over think all these things, or don’t listen all together, focusing solely on what our puny minds think is best for us. But it’s simpler than we think; we just have to do what He says in order to live in wisdom, righteousness, and Light.  As it says in The Devine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, “The Bible is, after all, God’s gift to the world through his Church, not to the scholars. It comes through the life of his people and nourishes that life. Its purpose is practical, not academic. An intelligent, careful, intensive but straightforward reading- this is, one not governed by obscure and faddish theories or by a mindless orthodoxy- is what it requires to direct us into life in God’s kingdom.” This is wisdom- knowledge and understanding. This is Fear of the Lord.

2 CORINTHIANS 1:12

2 CORINTHIANS 1:12

FOR OUR BOASTING IS THIS: THE TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE THAT WE CONDUCTED OURSELVES IN THE WORLD IN SIMPLICITY AND GODLY SINCERITY, NOT WITH FLESHLY WISDOM BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD, AND MORE ABUNDANTLY TOWARD YOU.

The Lord calls us to live in the world but not of the world. He calls us to live a genuine, authentic, and straightforward life. Christians, more often than not, get such a bad wrap for being judgmental, condescending, or hypocritical. And something even more disappointing is that growing up, those types of Christians were all around me. Personally this is what turned me of to Christianity to begin with. Not God, but his “people”. I knew Him to be a loving God, but was confused as to why all I saw and was treated with hate in the church. I understand now that it is only because I was first the hateful and selfish person. I was so quick to cast blame on everyone else rather than myself. I listened to what other people had said about me and thought that was what God was saying about me, instead of actually developing my own authentic relationship with Him. Something really stood out to me when reading On Being a Servant of God by Warren W. Wiersbe last week. In chapter 4 there’s a paragraph that said, “Sometimes you feel like quitting and running away, and that’s the worst thing you can do. Resigning from your church, giving up your Sunday school class, leaving the committee, or abandoning the choir will never solve the problems or meet the needs in your heart. You’ll probably meet the same situation and same people (with different names) in the next ministry you accept. Why? Because God won’t let His servants run away.” God puts difficult circumstances in our lives to grow us not hinder us. If He brought them into our lives He will surely get us out of them. So my prayer is that I can walk in this truth He’s been so gracious to show me. To care for people and love them the way He first loved me, persistently and sincerely.