Dear Friend

I’ve been thinking about you “absolutely knowing God loves you” and praying that His Spirit will bear witness with your spirit so that you will know that He loves you. I think the fact that you are struggling with knowing is a sign that He does love and that your faith in Him is growing.  Often times we question God’s love for us because we think there is something we have to do to earn it or we think that if He really loves us we won’t suffer but these are lies of Satan. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love, our good works are so tainted with pride and self-righteousness that they are but filthy rags to God. We suffer because we live in a broken world and sin has effected everything including our health so don’t let Satan tempt you into believing that your illnesses are a sign God doesn’t love you.

God is sovereign and He rules over all things, there is nothing out of His control and all the heartaches of life He uses to draw us to Himself, to grow our faith in Him and to empty us of ourselves, that is to keep us from believing we can earn His love.  Oh my heart longs for you to BELIEVE by power of the Holy Spirit that you are dearly loved by God not because of what you have done but because of what Christ did for you. He came as man and lived a perfect sinless life and died on the cross taking on the wrath of God and was raised from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of God that we His children might know Him as Lord and Savior. See how great a love He has for you! 

Often when I am struggling with this issue I will read Ephesians chapter 1, 2 and 3 because it reminds me of the depth of my sin and the magnitude of God’s love for me.  

Hugs and prayers and much love for you.

Dear Friend

After hearing a piece of your childhood story I am rejoicing that God rescued you from the dominion of darkness and transferred you to the kingdom of His beloved son. (Col 1:13) It is because of His great love and mercy He took you out of the life style you grew up in and now holds you in His arms as your loving heavenly Father and faithful Savior. Before you even knew Him as your Lord and Savior He was working in you to see the destructiveness of sin and drawing you to Himself.

Therefore my dear friend I pray that you will reject the assumption that it was by your strong will and determination that you left that lifestyle but understand that if God had not intervened in your life you would have continued in it.   (1Cor 15:11) Self-righteousness and pride makes us think we saved ourselves and leads to works righteousness, which is the viscous cycle of trying to earn God’s blessings. But understanding the depth of God’s grace leads to trust and faith and peace.

So enjoy living in the kingdom of His beloved son, which is resting in His sovereign love for you, believing in the redeeming work of Christ and trusting in the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Rejoice and give thanks for the good work he has begun in you and will carry on to completion.

Gospel Friends

Over the last several months I’ve had several conversations with several friends who are struggling with anger. Some of them realize how angry they are and some of them don’t but the common thread that runs through their situations is that they have been deeply hurt by someone they love.  My heart breaks for my dear friends and I long for their healing.

As I have prayed for them and for wisdom to know how to encourage them and bear with them in their struggle God has graciously showed me that what they (and I) need when struggling with anger is not law – what we should be doing, but the Gospel –all that God has done for us through Christ. I don’t know about you but I’ve never been able to get over being angry with someone by telling myself to STOP being angry or by blaming the other person for my anger or by pretending I’m not angry. 

I know that healing comes when we live in the light of the whole Gospel. When God opens our hearts, we see

·         Just how much He loves us, how good and gracious He is

·         Just how sinful (prideful, self-righteous and demanding) we are

·         That He sympathizes with our weaknesses and understands our pain

·         That either Christ died for that sin that was committed against us because that person is a child of God or that sin will be avenged by the justice of God because she isn’t a child of God

·         That the bonds of sin have been broken by the death of Christ so we do not have to go on sinning – that is go on being angry

·         That He is sovereign and rules over all so this situation isn’t out of His control but He has orchestrated it for our good and His glory

Seeing Jesus and His glorious work is the only power strong enough to transform our anger but how do you articulate these truths of the Gospel to someone who is hurting? How do you love a friend so that she understands you sympathize with her pain and anger but you won’t let her wallow in it? How can we be Gospel Friends?

Oh Heavenly Father, may we be so rooted and grounded in your love that the Gospel- all that you have done for us through Christ, flows freely in our conversations. Teach us how to be Gospel friends proclaiming your love, grace and mercy to one another every day so that when we are blind to our sins (and we will be) we are instruments of righteousness in each other’s lives.

Consumed with the Word of God

This weekend Danny and I had the privilege of sending some time with a delightful couple who we love and respect very much. The thing that amazes me the most about them is how the Word of God is a natural part of their conversations. It’s not forced or stiff but it’s also not “syrupy sweet.”  They don’t use it to condemn or judge but to build up and encourage.    I believe the Word of God flows naturally in their conversations because they are consumed with it.  They read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it, delight in it and discuss it freely because it is sweeter than honey to them.  They love the Word of God! and it shows!

What a blessing these dear friends are to Danny and I. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for their love, pastoral care and Godly wisdom.

Hope

Some days you realize that the only hope we have is found in all that God has done for us in Christ.

Without Him we are
1. dead in our sins,
2. walking in the ways of the world, 
3. indulging in the desires of flesh
4. living as children of wrath.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loves us
1. has made us alive togehter with Christ
2. raised us up with Him
3 seated us with Him in the heavenly places
4. brought us near to Him by the blood of Christ
5. created us to do good works which He has prepared before the foundation of the world

Amen!

A Way to Pray

A Way to Pray is my new favorite book. It is Matthew Henry's book A Method for Prayer written in 1710  that has been revised and updated by O. Palmer Robertson. "This work consists almost entirely of Scripture, arranged under various headings, to help Christians pray in harmony with the truth of God, revealed in His word."

" O Lord our God, you are so great. you are clothed with honour and majesty. You cover yourself with light as with a garment. Yet to us you make darkness your pavilion. We do not know how to approach you because of the darkness that veils your essence.
You are light, and in you is no darkness at all. You are the Father of lights. In you there is no inconsistency. You do not change like shifting shadows. You are love, and those who dwell in love dwell in you, and you in them. Every good and perfect gift comes from you. You are the blessed and only potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords. You alone are immortal. You live in light which no man can approach. No man has ever seen you, or can see you." 1 John 1:5, James 1:17, 1 John 4:16, 1 Tim 6:15,16, Psa. 104:1, 2;18:11 Job 37;19

Wait for the Lord

 Did you know that the word “wait” occurs 90 times in 86 verses in the NASB and 24 of those occurrences are in the Psalms and 23 of the 24 occurrences refer in some way to waiting on God? I didn’t either until I did a little research on it.  Here are a few of my favorite verses from the Psalms about waiting

·         Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!         (Psalm 27:14 )

·         Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes.  (Psalm 37:7)

·         Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land, when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.  (Psalm 37:34)

        

·         I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope. (Psalm 130:5)

I’m not good at waiting; I like to have a plan, to know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there. To me waiting seems like a waste of time so when I came across the chapter “Learn to Wait” in Paul Tripp’s book “Broken-Down House” I was challenged to see waiting in a new way. Here are a few things Pastor Tripp teaches about waiting

·         “Waiting is living through those moments when you do not understand what God is doing and you have no power to change your circumstances for the better.”

·         “Waiting will always reveal the true character of your heart, where you have placed your hope, your level of faith, your capacity to truly leave things up to God, your ability to rest in God and God alone.”

·         “Waiting is more than being patient as situations and other people change. Waiting is about understanding that you and I desperately need to change, and that waiting is a powerful tool of personal change. God is using the grace of waiting to change us at the core of our personhood, the heart.”

·         “Waiting is not an interruption of God’s plan. It is his plan.”

·         “When we find waiting a grueling, burdensome experience it is because we are looking for our identity, meaning, and purpose in the thing we are waiting for.”

·         “We can wait productively by being active in prayer; confessing the struggles of our heart and seeking the grace of God, celebrating God’s sovereignty and counting our blessings.

Oh Father, take these truth deep into our hearts and change us from the inside out, teach us to wait in a way that glorifies and honors you.