Strength that is not My Own

These past several days have been very busy with ministry-related activities* as they seemed to have all compiled together at the end of October. The busyness was capped quite nicely, though, with Re-Connect – an event at RF where we gather together to worship Christ through songs, Scripture and testimonies of the Lord’s faithfulness in our lives. We do it every time there is a 5th Sunday and I LOVE it. I have mentioned before that the Lord is teaching me to be spent for the Gospel. I am continually learning what that looks like, but as He continues to weed things out of my life (TV*, Internet, interests/passions that don’t conform to His, etc.), it becomes a little easier to do so. After being spent these past few days for the Gospel, the Lord blessed me with Re-Connect – meeting me in worship with His presence and strengthening, renewing and refreshing my Spirit. I love the presence of the Lord. I love Him. There is no greater, more fulfilling thing than being immersed in Him.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God…For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:1-2, 10

So, after being on the go for days on end, the Lord met me and quieted my soul. Instead of being exhausted, I am refreshed. So true is Isaiah 40:31: “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagle; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” As I wait (actively – in obedience) to the Lord, He gives me strength. It is His strength, not mine. I will always grow weary and faint when I try to live, serve, etc. in my own strength. But when I depend on the power of Christ instead of myself and walk in daily obedience to Him, He gives me the strength I need to accomplish the work He has for me - for it is His work, not mine, therefore, only His strength is sufficient. The fact that He gives me exactly what I need for the day at hand is further confirmation that His mercies are new every single morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

*I did manage to find a little time to watch the St. Louis Cardinals win the 2011 World Series! 

Connections in the Word :: Abiding

The other day, I had this verse repeating in my head:

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 4

My friend Anna had posted a picture on Facebook with this verse and for some reason it stayed in my mind. As it kept running through my head, I decided to look up the verse. Even though it is in 3 John, I wound up in 2 John. All by the Lord's providence, no doubt. There is a similar verse that says, "I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father" (2 John 4). As I kept reading, the Apostle John goes on to talk about how believers should love one another and that this love involves keeping the commandments of Jesus Christ (verses 5-6). Those who love Him, obey Him (1 John 5:2). Our obedience to Christ and His commands proves that we are His. Obedience does not earn us favor with God, but it does give evidence of His grace in our lives. John says we are to abide in Christ's teaching (verse 9), which reminds me of these words from Jesus:

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned...By this is My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples. John 15:4-6, 8

To abide means to remain, to stay, to continue. The Bible has a lot to say about Christian perseverance and endurance (Hebrews 12:1-17). There are going to be rough times - really rough times - while we are following Christ where we will want to give up. BUT we are to remain steadfast, continue in faithful obedience, push forward in the faith, cling to His promises, fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12)...we are to abide in Him.

The Apostle John goes on to warn against false teachers who deny Christ and do not abide in His teachings (verse 7, 9-10). He also warns us believers to "watch ourselves" (verse 8). This admonition is found elsewhere in Scripture:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Galatians 6:1

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1 Timothy 4:16

Again, our lives should reflect the teachings of Christ and the only for that to happen is to abide in the teaching of Christ. First Timothy 4:16 exhorts us to watch both our lives and our doctrine. The two should match up. Of course, we will never be able to live what we believe perfectly. We will always fall short on this side of heaven, but God in His grace is continually growing us so that our lives look more and more like Christ (the only One who's life and teaching were perfectly in tune). And for believers, this is our great hope and reward.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when [Jesus Christ] appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2

Surrounded by Darkness

The Lord has reminded me several times over the past few weeks that this world is not my home…that I hope for a better country (Hebrews 11:16). And after some of the things I have seen and heard about lately, I am so glad of this truth. The world we live in is a very sad and dark place – a hopeless place if not for Christ.

I have learned about the children who are sexually abused in Central Asia. I saw people desperately trying to make themselves right with God and I met women who were selling their bodies for money (whether enslaved or not, I do not know for sure).  I learned of two women (here in the States) who were sold into sex slavery – one of whom was severely beaten. These stories make me sick to my stomach and weigh heavily upon my heart. If I am burdened by such sin, how much more the heart of God? I believe that the God I serve is in control of all situations. Nothing slips by Him. The Bibles says that Jesus Christ upholds both the good and the evil by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). He is a God of redemption and can bring beauty from the worst of ashes. But when I hear stories like these, I have trouble believing that God can redeem these situations for good. What good could possibly come of such tragic circumstances? Yet I know that God’s ways are higher than mine and that He can and will use these situations for His (always) good purposes.

Such sin grieves my heart…and then I remember: I am not too far removed from such acts of wickedness. It lurks within my own heart. I am fully capable of horrific acts, but Christ makes me different. His grace has made me to differ. He is continually changing and refining me. But sin is still there. It may not manifest itself in such outwardly horrific acts as the above, but it’s there just the same. The sad thing is that this sin in my heart does not make me grieve the same way that these horrifically sinful acts do. Piper is right in saying…

…the reason such horrors exist in the physical realm and the moral realm is to display the outrage of sin. The outrage of sin against the holy God…every time we see something horrific, some horrible accident, our thoughts should be about the outrage of sin, not the injustice of God…instead of calling God into question, we should see them as evidences in our lives of the outrage of sin and the horrific evil and repugnance of sin to a holy God. And God is displaying to us the outrage of sin in the only way that we can see it, because we don’t get upset about our own sinning…And now, stand and wonder at the value of the Son of God, that His suffering could match all of those universe-crushing sins for which He died. Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p. 232-233

So the Lord was in effect saying to me, “This world is grossly sinful…and, by the way, so are you. These are the areas of sin we need to work on…” And so the refining continues. He worked on my sin of self-sufficiency until He broke me during first 8 months of this year (not that I don’t still struggle with this) and now He has begun to deal with me regarding my sin of people-pleasing. Both of which are rooted in pride. Sigh.

Consider [Jesus] who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not resisted to the point of shedding your blood. It is for discipline that you have to endure, God is treating you as sons [and daughters]. Hebrews 12:3-4, 7a

The depravity of man that the Lord has showed me was followed by explanations from the Bible this past Sunday. Jesus is the best teacher. :)  As I studied Noah with one of my Sunday School students, we read this verse:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5

Not of very good picture of us…but an accurate one. This is why we need Christ.
The sermon that morning was about the injustice of the world and the justice of God. Very fitting. Here is another picture of us in our Christless state:

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks after God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are shift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:11-12, 14-16, 18

My pastor said that apart from God, we are these people. And it’s true. This is the answer to my question of how people could commit such heinous acts against others – there is not fear of God before their eyes. This is why we need Christ.

In my personal time in the Word later that afternoon, it was more of the same thing. God says that our feet “run to evil and we are swift to shed innocent blood; our thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in our highways” (Isaiah 59:7). And what can we do? We are clearly guilty. Not one of us is without fault. “For our transgressions are multiplied before You, and are sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the Lord and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words” (Isaiah 59:12-13; cf. Psalm 51:3-4). BUT there is hope! Our sin is so radical that only God can provide the remedy…and He did!

The Lord saw it and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then His own arm brought Him salvation and His righteousness upheld Him. Isaiah 59:15b-16

You see, in God is perfect justice and He accomplished our salvation. “All the injustice in the world was swallowed up in Christ” (Pastor Andy). Jesus Christ became our justice (Romans 3:25-26) and He accomplished our salvation by taking upon Himself all of God’s anger toward us because of our outrageous sin.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:8, 10-12

This is very good news. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.