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Believing Better :: A Season of Waiting

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There’s often a space of time between the moment God speaks a promise to His child and the moment He fulfills that promise. What we do in the waiting proves our faith — or lack thereof.

 


flickr photo credit: Julian Lim

 

God spoke a very personal promise to me a number of years ago. But days turned to months which turned to years and the promise still hung in the abyss-of-tomorrow. So I found myself doubting. I doubted whether I had truly heard Him. I doubted whether He would actually come through. And in the doubting I grew complacent to His miraculous touch. And I’m certain that it grieved Him.

 

Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

 

God convicted me of my doubt. As a faithful Father He opened my eyes to my unbelief. And I broke before Him. As I confessed, He cleansed me. And then with deep conviction, I declared His promise yet again.

We cannot obtain the promises of God unless we believe Him, regardless of what we may see in our today. (Hebrews 11:33) He who promised is both able and willing to bring it to pass.

When we’re faced with that season of waiting, joy stirs in our souls as we choose to set our minds on what’s to come. As we choose to say with conviction, “I don’t know how. I don’t know when. But my God will faithfully come through.”

 
What promise of God are you standing on today?
 

Not your average king

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The news from 2011 will reflect a wave of uprisings washing across Europe and the Middle East, crashing onto cities like London, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Athens. With an election year in the United States, voices of discontent call out and seek a champion for change. The port of Oakland, California was shut down Monday, Dec. 12 due to protests related to the Occupy Wall St/Oakland/Portland/… Movement.  Mankind has always sought rulers to lead well, measuring success in peace, prosperity, and power. As Israel awaited her prophesied Messiah’s coming, it was no different. They looked for a king to break the bondage of Rome and restore the glory days of earthly man-kings like Solomon and David. They weren’t looking for a Jesus.

www.theblaze.com

Jesus was not your average king, and yet Hecame to be King and bring even more than Israel asked for. He came to bring truth. He came to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Lk. 2:32).

 

Word that the King of the Jews had been born somehow trickled down to all ears, despite the absence of YouTube and Twitter. Herod wanted to know where the reported king was, because a Jewish King was a threat to the heavy hand and unbending control of Rome. To the people of Israel, however, His coming meant a glimmer of hope.

 

After the arrest of Jesus, Pilate drilled the question at Him that all wanted to know: “Are you king of the Jews?” (John 18:33-37) The King himself said His kingdom is “not of this world;” He did not come for earthly dominion … yet. His kingship is spiritual, and He will ultimately bring all things under His rule. He was not arriving to bring a reign of immediate prosperity or even peace; He was coming for much greater riches than that. “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world— to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).

 

Jesus was not your average king. He WAS born to reign, but not merely over things like economies and governments. When Herod searched for Him and Pilate questioned Him, He was no threat to their immediate future. And when some people followed and some people mocked, there was no question He would reign over their eternity.

 

He was born to reign, but not as they expected. He is the Son of God who will sit on the throne of David to reign forever, with no end to His kingdom (Luke 2:32-33).  Jesus came to be King and bring the truth.

 

So who will reign over the governments of Europe and the Middle East and Asia and the United States in unsettled cities in 2012? No one knows. Men await rulers to free them, bring peace, and create prosperity.

 

Let’s not be so consumed with looking for “average kings” to make our “here and now” what we want that we miss the One who came to rule and reign.

 

  • – Are you living like Jesus is the King of your life? Do you know the truth He came to bring?
  • – We can all start a campaign in our hearts for “Occupy ME!”

 

Abundant Living is Rightfully Ours

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He means for His Word to spill from our hands and lips into our homes and neighborhoods and world. If what I read isn’t affecting how I treat my family or what I say to the grocery store clerk, then I’m missing the point of it all. His Word is meant to be applied. It’s meant to overflow.

But so often we don’t apply. Instead we close our Bibles and proceed through life unchanged and ineffective. We feel defeated at every turn. The promise is abundant living in Christ, with His Word given as our nourishment for the journey, yet we walk worn and burdened.

…Things  may  try  to  hinder  us  from  applying His Word to our lives, but God is bigger. No wound, no stronghold, no sin, no daily frustration can trump our God. He never looks at a soul and says, “This one’s impossible.” Christ died to give each of us freedom. We can live the abundant life. In fact, abundant living is rightfully ours in Him.

—Lara Williams and Katie Orr, Savoring Living Water

Spiral-bound copies of Savoring Living Water are on sale this month!

Use code: DECEMBER

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 For the month of December we are sharing posts and quotes to help us escape the Cycle of Try Harder, through Believing Better.

Read more Believing Better posts here.

The Better Choice: Believing

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But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  James 1:23-25, emphasis added

I believe …

We say it all the time.  I believe Jesus is the Son of God.  I believe we’re called to share our faith.  I believe God wants us to know Him intimately through time spent in prayer and in His Word.  I believe the Word is true and changes people’s lives.

I believe.

But do we?  Really?

James says there is a difference between a hearer of the Word and a doer of the Word.   I’ve thought about this a great deal.   Not in the context of a works-based salvation, but even deeper.  That difference between knowing and believing.

Knowing the straps on a roller coaster are designed to hold me safely in the ride is one thing.  Believing they will do that job is totally different.  Knowing might get me in line … but believing straps me in the seat.

Grande Boucle

 

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Maybe, just maybe, we get caught up in the knowing … standing the lines of Bible study homework completed and church attendance lists … and we miss the real grace of believing … of strapping in the ride.

Believing might call some of us to sell everything and live in a poor community sharing the love of Jesus with those who have lost all hope.   Believing might ask some of us to give up the frantic pace of modern life and move slowly, intentionally, to be different in the scariest ways we can imagine.   Believing might require early mornings spent in prayer and study or late nights of intercession for the lost.    Believing asks that we lay down our dreams, our plans, our understanding.

Believing is strapping for the ride of our lives … with promised suffering but also eternal hope.

I don’t know about you, but I’m no longer satisfied with standing in the line of knowing.  I’m choosing to strap myself into the ride of believing.  Believing bigger, believing better.

Will you join me?

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A guest post by

Teri Lynne Underwood


Married to her talented Worship Pastor husband and momma to her silly {and slightly hormonal}tween girl, Teri Lynne is living out her own happily ever after.  Finding glimpses of holy in the most mundane places, Teri Lynne’s one desire is to invite others into this journey toward a life where the sacred and secular collide.   She writes at a little white desk and studies in a big not-so-white-anymore chair in between loading the dishwasher, putting the dog out, and sitting in the car line.  Grace grabbed hold of her life and since it did, she’s never been the same.  You can join her on her blog and on Twitter.

 

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 For the month of December we are sharing posts and quotes to help us escape the Cycle of Try Harder, through Believing Better.

Read more Believing Better posts here.

Serve, Give, Tell … This Is Why He Came

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But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”   Matthew 20:25-28, emphasis added

Serving, Service, Giving, Generosity, Sacrifice

Jesus came for specific reasons and in this passage, we find two of the most significant.

To Serve and To Give His Life as a Ransom

Jesus came to show us how to live and to give us the opportunity for eternal life.

When we serve, we look like Him.   When we give generously and sacrificially, we look like Him.

And, best of all, when we acknowledge Him as Savior and Lord, we become co-heirs with Him for eternity {Romans 8:17}.

How does this look in daily life?  How do we live out the example He has given us? 

We serve.  In our homes, in our churches, in our workplaces, in our communities, around the world.   Sometimes our service seems small – wiping babies’ faces or picking up toys for the hundredth time today.  But when we serve with a pure heart, no service is small.

We give.   In a world where top television shows celebrate hoarding and getting more and bigger, the life of one who gives stands out.    There are countless ways to give from providing a goat to family across the world to taking cookies to thank a police officer across the street … opportunities to give are limitless.   We are called, commanded, to be a people who give generously, sacrificially, willingly.

We tell.   Too many believers are afraid to share their faith.  But we have been given a spirit of power {2 Timothy 1:7} and we are called to share the gospel as we go {Matthew 28:19-20}.  Telling others about the ransom Christ paid for our sin should be a part of our daily conversation.   We must be unafraid to share the truth … we must tell.

Today, every day, will you live in the example of Christ and serve and give and tell?

Abiding Fruit: Self-Control

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I quickly get discouraged when I feel certain areas of my life become unruly. I feel it lately, as I am surrounded by sweet treats that are so hard to say no to. I experience it every morning as I try to get up early to meet with the Lord, and more often than I would like, I choose to snooze.

Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

 

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I don’t need to teach a lesson today on what self-control is. We all know what it is, and most of us would say we lack it. Whether it be in regards to the way we eat, what we say and do, or our maybe our thought-life; there are probably at least a few areas in each our lives in which we lack self-control.

Although, I did find something very interesting in my study of self-control this week:

Enkrateia.

That’s the greek word for self-control.

It’s used four times in the New Testament. (Acts 24:25, Galatians 5:23, and repeated twice in 2 Peter 1:6)

That’s it. Four times.

So as I came to this week of study, a bit discouraged and defeated, I was comforted that I didn’t find a bigger list of things for me to control in my life.

Isn’t Self-Control Just Trying Harder?

I find it incredibly fitting that self-control comes right in the middle of our Believing Better series. This series was a bit of a last-minute leading from the Lord, and here we are studying self-control, something which can easily be mistaken with the Cycle of Try Harder.

So, is self-control just another way of saying “try harder”?

Remember what our series is all about? It is about the FRUIT of the SPIRIT. Self-control is a FRUIT. It is a PRODUCT of being a Spirit-led, healthy Christian.

And, when we get down to the nitty-gritty of 2 Peter 1:3-8, we see a similar message we’ve been learning all along.

An All-Powerful God Has Granted

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue… (2 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)

Did you catch the amazing truths of what God has given us?

  • All things that pertain to life and godliness.
  • Precious and very great promises.

And do you see why?

  • So that you may become partakers of the divine nature—to escape sinful desire .
  • To fuel our efforts towards maturing our faith.

Remember the Central Command

Most of the commands in Scripture are surrounded by the truths of what Christ has done for us. Here in 2 Peter, amidst the list of qualities that should be increasing in our lives, the commands are preceded by the reality that even our best efforts are worthless with out the power of God in our lives.

Earlier in our Abiding Fruit studies we looked at the central command of Galatians 5—the secret to experiencing fruit-filled living. The central command: walk by the Spirit. Keeping in step with the Spirit brings forth the fruit of self-control.

We aren’t to mainly pursue self-control, but to pursue Jesus. As we do, self-control will come.

Do you struggle with self-control? How do you think pursuing Jesus and yielding to the Spirit will help you live a more self-controlled life?

There is so much more to learn from this passage! What did you see this week in your studies?

A Big, Big Life

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When we moved to Alabama this summer, I was given a new set of dishes.  I love them!   They are part of the LIFE  collection from Day Spring.   One of my favorite verses is inscribed on them …

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10

Life … zoe.  One of my lexical aids described this life as “the very life of God, of which believers are made partakers.”

We are partakers of the very life of God!  

And not only that, He offers us this life to the full.

Abundantly … over and above, more than enough.

Friends, Jesus came so that we would be able to live the fullest, most abundant, crazy over and above, more than enough lives!

What does this big life involve?

Relationship with Him … We are invited into the very life of God, intimacy with the Creator and Sustainer of everything.   That’s big!

Relationships with others … We are offered community, fellowship, and interaction with fellow believers in order to strengthen and support one another.   We are given the opportunity to sow into the lives of unbelievers in order to point them to the Giver of all life.

Receiving blessing now … Isn’t God good?  He gives us gifts innumerable and blessings unimaginable – every. single. day.

But the best part is,

Redemption for eternity … In all of life, there is no greater gift than THE Gift – the gift of salvation and the promise of eternal life.

Jesus came to give us abundant life – now and forever!

How have you experienced life to the full?

{image from Dayspring}

The Dragon is Slain

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Picture your flesh—that old ego with the mentality of merit and craving for power and reputation and self-reliance—picture it as a dragon living in some cave of your soul. Then you hear the gospel, and in it Jesus Christ comes to you and says, “I will make you mine and take possession of the cave and slay the dragon. Will you yield to my possession? It will mean a whole new way of thinking and feeling and acting.” You say: “But that dragon is me. I will die.” He says, “And you will rise to newness of life, for I will take its plan; I will make my mind and my will and my heart your own.” You say, “What must I do?” He answers, “Trust me and do as I say. As long as you trust me, we cannot lose.” Overcome by the beauty and power of Christ you bow and swear eternal loyalty and trust.

And as you rise, he puts a great sword in your hand and says, “Follow me.” He leads you to the mouth of the cave and says, “Go in, slay the dragon.” But you look at him bewildered, “I cannot. Not without you.” He smiles. “Well said. You learn quickly. Never forget: my commands for you to do something are never commands to do it alone.” Then you enter the cave together. A horrible battle follows and you feel Christ’s hand on yours. At last the dragon lies limp. You ask, “Is it dead?” His answer is this: “I have come to give you new life. This you received when you yielded to my possession and swore faith and loyalty to me. And now with my sword and my hand you have felled the dragon of the flesh. It is a mortal wound. It will die. That is certain. But it has not yet bled to death, and it may yet revive with violent convulsions and do much harm. So you must treat it as dead and seal the cave as a tomb. The Lord of darkness may cause earthquakes in your soul to shake the stones loose, but you build them up again. And have this confidence: with my sword and my hand on yours this dragon’s doom is sure, he is finished, and your new life is secure.”

—John Piper, Walk by the Spirit!  (Sermon)

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For the month of December we are sharing posts and quotes to help us escape the Cycle of Try Harder, through Believing Better.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more Believing Better posts here.

Jesus Came to Seek & to Save the Lost

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[Zacc+3.jpg]

Just on the heels of Jesus’ encounter with a wee little man we find these eternity-altering words… “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

In this beautiful story of redemption we see a sinner willing to look foolish in his attempts to sneak a peek at the Savior. Could this man who told the woman at the well everything she had ever done give this tax collecting thief any hope? Had He really healed the sick and raised the dead? Was He really the long awaited Messiah?

As we examine this interesting account we find  Zacchaeus seeking to see Jesus (vs 3) and Jesus seeking (vs 10) and saving the lost. The same verb is used here and it means to seek or strive after something or someone.

While reading through these verses with this verb comparison in mind, I couldn’t help but think that although Zacchaeus thought he was seeking Jesus, it was Jesus who was seeking Him. Zacchaeus was lost, without hope and without a future. But Jesus showed up, raised a few eyebrows when he went to Zacchaeus’ home for a bite to eat and then, after listening to Zacchaeus repent, Jesus declares His purpose statement.

Zacchaeus may have scurried up a tree seeking the Savior, but the Savior left heaven to seek out Zacchaeus…to seek out sinners…to seek out you and me! The purpose our precious Lord came to this earth was so that we could be saved…so those who have have no future and no hope could find salvation.

Being lost in the city or lost in the woods is a bad thing. But it’s only temporary. Eventually you find your way out. But being lost in your sin is very different. It’s eternal unless the Savior who came to seek and save us does just that. And when we get to that place where we are finally ready to scurry up a tree to seek out the Savior, we find that He’s been the One seeking after us all the while and then we understand this eternity-altering truth…Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Aren’t you glad He did!?

How does the truth that Jesus seeks and saves change your life? We would love to hear your own story about how Jesus sought you out and saved you!

Believe better, worry less

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I’m worrying good right now.
That means I’m believing bad.

When we stepped outside to feed our 1½-year-old Golden Retriever Tuesday morning, she lay perfectly still in her dog house and refused to come. A panicky trip to the vet proved that Kandie was a very sick dog.

Cracks of worry

I worried whether she would live or die.
But when the vet called with a surgery option, I worried whether I’d be a wise steward to spend so much money on a dog.

What does this have to do with “believing better”?
Well, maybe everything.

One of my spiritual resolutions for 2011 has been to release my worry into more dependence on God.

So when I find myself anxious about situations and choices, I remind myself there’s a crack in my belief.

Because I believe that what I believe about God affects the way I see everything else.

Do I trust Him or not? Can I honestly answer, “Yes!” if I’m actually living, “Sort of”?

When I read Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34, I detect the fissures that can break open my mountain of worry.

1. He knows

Does God really keep track of everything going on in my life? Is He even aware that my dog has some mysterious illness? Yes, He’s very aware, even of the next strand of my hair turning from brown to gray (Matthew 10:30). He knows every small and large thing I need (Matthew 6:32).

That means He also knows not only that my dog is sick, but what it is that is making her sick.

2. He cares

So if He does know (and I can easily believe He does know), then does He care? If He cared enough to feed every cardinal and mallard and crow outside my window this morning (Matthew 6:26), won’t He care even more about me, one made in His own image? Of course He will. And if He cares about me, He’ll care that I’m hurting over one of His creatures that is sick (Matthew 10:29).

So if I come to believe that He does care (I do believe), the next belief I have to challenge is in His willingness:
If He cares so much, why doesn’t He do something about it?
(This is the hardest one for me.)

3. He works

He IS doing something about it. Whether I realize it or not, God is always at work for my good and for His glory (Romans 8:28). He keeps me fed, sheltered, and clothed (Matthew 6:30). I can see the evidence of that if I’ll look. I must remember to look.

But my dog?

My worries are that (a) she’ll die and I’ll be sad. But hasn’t God proven faithful to sit with me through much larger sadnesses already? Yes. And hasn’t He promised grace to cover those yet in my future? Yes. So even if Kandie does die, God has already strategically planted ahead gifts of grace to see me through it.

But I also worry that (b) I’ll overspend unwisely on a pet. But isn’t God at work here too? If I pray for wisdom (I am)—and if I believe He’ll give it (I do)—I can trust He’ll actively guide me with each decision that I have to make (James 1:5-6), one at a time.

Believe better

So as I believe better—that God knows, God cares, and God works—even about a family pet, I turn away from my sin of anxiety, and become satisfied with how God will handle it all.

It’s not up to me to control the situation; it’s only up to me to believe in the One who can.

Whew. Doesn’t that take a load off?
I believe it does.

Do you have a problem with worrying, too?
What scriptures help you believe better and worry less?

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For the month of December we are sharing posts and quotes to help us escape the Cycle of Try Harder, through Believing Better.

Read more Believing Better posts here.

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