A friend photographs one flower yearly that I just find to be so beautiful. I had never seen one in person.
And then last summer I was at a local park with a beautiful garden. As I was taking pictures I noticed this blue flower hiding and I instantly knew it was Love in the Mist!
It is such a dainty, small flower. The light was quickly fading for me and I wasn’t sure when I’d get back to the park so I did the best I could to grab a few images. I will certainly be going back this summer to get more images.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…
James 1:2
James is one of the most quoted books of the Bible and considered to be the proverbs of the New Testament. It is filled with wisdom for the believer and that second verse just jumps you right into the deep end.
Count it joy when I am in a trial? That seems so counterintuitive. When I’m in the midst of a trial my feelings are anything but joy. I want to be free of the trial not weighted down by the sadness, anger, hurt, or whatever of that trial. But yet… when I pause and find the joy, then I see the rest of what James says.
In that trial, as I choose joy, I know it is an opportunity for me strength my faith – to become steadfast and move closer to becoming perfect, complete, and lacking nothing. {verse 3-4). Much like the muscles in my body that grow stronger and more able to do things as I work them out, so will my faith as I walk through a trial.
I learn in that trial to seek God. I call on his name more and more. I ask for wisdom knowing he will give it to me generously (vs. 5). I can rest knowing that he is going to be with me in the trial and in it what he wants for me is to shine his light, point people to Christ, and have confidence that he is going to work out whatever it is for his glory.
Trials come with our walk with Christ. It is not avoidable. As we consider it joy, we can feel the peace of knowing that our walk with Him is getting stronger. We become unwavering knowing that He is with us in the low times – if not even more so – holding us up and giving us the wisdom we ask for as we are tested. Some trials will be short, but others may stay with us for a lifetime. Either way have find comfort knowing that it is making your faith stronger and you to become more like the one who created you.
God has the power to redeem what we consider unredeemable. To heal what we consider fatally wounded. To make our worst chapters our greatest victories.
My husband shared something our second son said at the end of a Bible study him and both of our sons have been doing. As normal, I’ve been thinking on a it a few days and wanted to share.
In the past, when you made the decision to follow Christ, you said “I surrender my life to God”. These days it’s more often said “I commit my life to God”. But we can commit to many things…. but we can only surrender to one thing. We need to get back to saying I surrender.
So what really is the difference between the two words? Let’s look at some definitions of them.
Surrender:
to yield something to the possession of power to another
to give oneself up in to the power of another
to give up, abandon, or relinquish
to yield in favor of another
Commitment
to pledge
to bind or obligate
to entrust for safekeeping
to do, perform
to engage oneself
Seems like a subtle difference however, to surrender you have to yield or give up all of yourself. That would seem to mean only one thing we can surrender too. All of oneself can only cover one thing. When we commit, we are actively doing something – pledging, entrusting, engaging. We can commit to doing so many things, especially in this “do it all” society. So in one, I am letting, in this case God, take over my life. Whereas, to commit I keep some of the authority since I get to choose if I want to do.
It seems that we can not commit without surrendering. It would lead to inconsistency in our walk with Christ. We could waver on the path he is choosing for us because we still think we have some authority. However when we surrender along with committing we can stay under his gentle guidance and be aligned with what he wants for us. Without surrendering we might be great Christians on Sunday morning, or with Christian friends, but in other situations we waver from that walk and say or do things we would never do.
But to surrender is where consistent Christ-like living occurs.
We need to surrender first. Yield oneself to the power and grace of the Lord. Surrender all we are and hope to become. Surrender our pain and our joys. Surrender our wills to the one who knows us better than we know ourselves.
Then we need to commitment second. Surrendering allows the Holy Spirit to work his power through you and away from working out things on our own. Surrender is a yielding to the Lord’s authority and then giving him our pledge to live as he would have us to live. Without surrender, commitment is empty and becomes a choice.
Each day, some times multiple times a day, we have to surrender again to God. It’s easy to slip away. As we study His word and spend quiet time with Him, each day it gets easier. Commitment then becomes easier. We begin to see that all things work for His glory and we can have hope in the despair because we have surrendered to him and he will be with us in the highs and the lows.
In the end, if we just commit to God and do not surrender I think of Paul as he talks about not running aimlessly or boxing with the air. That’s all we are doing. How can we follow Him and lead others to Christ without surrendering? Surrendering gives us self control so we do not get disqualified, but instead live a life fully for Christ.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:-31-35
This passage was part of the daily reading today. So much packed into these four verses. The “back story” here is Jeremiah is a prophet in Judah telling them that they have sinned by disobeying God and ignoring His word thus God’s wrath is about to fall onto them as Babylonia’s are about to conquer and enslave them. However, inside all of this destruction and seemingly end of the people, God gives them hope in these verses. He promises them a new covenant which comes with Jesus Christ.
I love how God says “I will write it on their hearts”. So intimate and personal. Each of us that accepts the gift of salvation will have His law written on their heart by HIM. It is hard to stray from it when you carry it within you. It is not as in the Old Testament where only the high priests could be that close to God and read his word. We have access to it within us. Unlike the old covenant written on stone tablets that can be broken and scrolls that can be lost, the new covenant will be written within the people, on their very hearts.
The hope of the end of the verses is two fold. First “for they shall all know me”… everyone. No need for religious education, because everyone will know God, from the king to the stable boy, from the oldest elder to the youngest child. Everyone knows him, they just have to choose to accept his free gift of salvation and he will come alive within our hearts.
Second “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” which is the greatest promise of this text. He will forgive our sins… everyone of them and we will sin no more. This can be hard for us to comprehend. So many of us want to work to be forgiven of our sins, or think our sins are two great to be forgiven but here we see (and is only one of many verses that says this) God just forgives. Period. He wipes the slate clean for ANYONE, for ANY SIN. And, we will sin no more. This part is a process as we become closer with the one who created us and forgives us, we become more like him and we will sin less and less.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this new covenant. You need only say a simple prayer to follow him and be forgiven of your sins. You will get a fresh slate. A new start. A life filled with hope knowing you will live with him in eternity.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18
On Good Friday one of the pastors of the church we attend, spoke on this verse. He shared some powerful thoughts that I continue to dwell on throughout the weekend and today.
The cross… a symbol for the Christian that reminds us of the life that Christ gave up to save us from death. It reminds us of the eternal life we have in Christ. The concurring of death forever for those who are saved.
The cross…. something that was created for brutal execution and torture is now seen as a symbol of life for His believers.
The cross… seen as shameful, disgraceful, for the lowest of low now a sign of hope for eternity, a place where our King gave up his life for us.
The cross… used on the sixth day of the week to complete the work of saving the world, a reflection of God completing the world on the sixth day.
The cross… showing that the ways of worldly power is nothing in comparison to God’s power.
What was created to defeat God (Jesus being hung on the cross) is now the symbol of victory. We rejoice in seeing the cross for we, as those whom are saved, have the power of God, have eternal life, and hope as we serve Him in our everyday lives.
I think as I read and study the Bible many of my thoughts on what I’ve read could be titled “A Prayer”. There are so many great prayers that we get to read of ancient people that God has used in mighty ways. They differ in their approach of the throne, and today I’ll take a look at the book of Nehemiah who’s book quickly moves to a mighty prayer that we all could easily put up on a wall and say every morning.
A quick background. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (at this point I’m glad I’m writing and not speaking because I certainly wouldn’t do that name any justice in correctly saying it!). A cupbearer was the person that would taste all of the King’s food first so that if it was poisoned, the cupbearer would get sick or die and not the king. This role was someone who the king had to trust and had a close relationship with since he had to trust that he had tried the food. Nehemiah was of God’s chosen people and, as the book unfolds, was the one that went back to Jerusalem after the remnant returned from exile to help rebuild the city wall.
Nehemiah is visited by a fellow Jew who had probably traveled four months to deliver his message… a message that would devastate Nehemiah. He (Hanani) tells him in verse 3 of the first chapter that the remnant (or those who returned from exile) are in “great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” In other words, he gives him a complete and honest assessment that nothing is going right. It doesn’t say in the chapter, but clearly Hanani is looking for Nehemiah’s help – probably (Kristal’s thoughts next) because of his position with the King he is hoping he can sway his employer to help the people of Jerusalem.
And what does Nehemiah do? He prays. Not just really quickly. Not just one time. It says in verse four for “days” but a pastor said it was probably for 3-5 months based on the month given in chapter one and then month given in chapter two. Months… he prayed for months. He fasted and prayed. He didn’t take an action, he didn’t try to solve the problem himself first, but instead he prayed first. He wanted to be sure whatever he did it was what God wanted him to do.
That right there…. wow. Such a lesson I need. So often I don’t pray first nor do I pray daily about the same issue again and again.
The prayer spans from verse 5-11. Seven verses. Only one of them actually asks anything of God. The other six remind Nehemiah of who God is (great, awesome, keeps his covenant), confesses his sins and those of the people (such an honest confess it is – “we have acted corruptly against you”), and brings out the history of God (mentions Moses and the reminder that God will bring back his people if they turn to him). Finally, Nehemiah ends with asking the Lord to be attentive to him and to give him success and mercy.
As I continue to grow in my walk with Christ, I know this daily prayer in all times of my life is what I need. To follow Nehemiah’s lead to go to him first. To remind myself in that prayer of who God is, confess my sins, remember the history of how he has always been there for his people… and then to place my needs before him. My reflection is that if I begin my prayers with these first three things, the practical part of my prayer will be formed knowing that God is going to be right there with me. He is attentive. He does want me to have success and mercy. I need to have this daily (often multiple times a day) relationship with him.
This past week we learned, due to Covid-19, that Teen Missions has canceled all summer teen trips. While we were not surprised by the decision, it was still devastating to have it confirmed and become a reality. Most would think I was elated that for the first summer since 2014, I will have no teens out of the country for 6 weeks. Certainly, I am looking forward to them being here, but I share in their sadness.
You see, with these change of plans comes the loss of an amazing opportunity to serve Christ in a country that needs to hear the gospel. To be the hands and feet of Christ as they provide for the needs of the people they meet…. to pray with the adults and children, to wash their feet, to provide medical care, or to just bring a moment of happiness in a game of Duck, Duck, Goose.
Tents during boot camp
It also is a loss of being a part of hundreds of teens that come together at a two week boot camp where they are pushed to the very edges of themselves in the midst of the heat, bugs, no flushing toilets, and bathing in a bucket. A time were they learn how strong they are on their own, how to lean on their team mates when they are struggling, and the relationship with Christ that is formed deeply in their souls as they conquer each day. The teens build new families with their team mates sharing their pasts, building their faith, and preparing to go into the field to give everything they have to the people they have chosen to serve.
It is a loss of an amazing time of worship each day where the teens are not ashamed to raise their hands in praise and adoration as they sing and pray at the evening rallies. Where a “mosh pit” is formed filled with smelly, sweating teens that are excited to have time to give all their hearts to him after a long day of learning and preparing for what is to come next. It gives them energy, it reminds them they are not alone in this thing called Christianity, and that they can call out his name freely with no worries of being made fun of for standing firm for Christ.
It is a loss of rekindling relationships from past teams, because even after all they go through for 6 weeks, they come back year after year and bring friends so they can have that same experience. This family of Teen Missions is life long as they are bonded over the stories they share seeing people in third world countries open their homes and lives and share all they have with these teens because they are so excited to hear about Christ. They watch in awe as God provides for their every need and answers prayers that seem impossible.
Work cite, Cambodia
It is a loss of seeing that the world is bigger than their town/city/state/country. The perspective that they are part of something that spans the world is a reminder that they can make a change. They see God’s beauty in the places they visit and are inspired by his creation. They see Christians worship him the same in so many places, in so many languages, and with an awe inspiring gratefulness to be able to do so unlike what we experience in America. The teams are reminded how grateful they should be to live where they can worship freely anywhere.
Yes, my teens can do many good things for the kingdom right here in my city. Yes, I’ll be happy to share a summer with them. But I understand their sadness in the loss of a Teen Mission summer. I know God will use this for his glory still and we will all learn different lessons this year. I will support my teens through this knowing they would rather be there (this year would have been Philippines for one and Cambodia for the other) while beginning a countdown to summer 2021 when, God willing, they will be traveling to the next country God calls them to serve.
… What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
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