Will You Still Love Him?

I had to contain myself. I had almost the entire chapter of Deuteronomy 8 posted here, and then realized that you all probably aren't as excited about it as I am. I encourage you to read the whole chapter if you are interested, especially verses 11-18. So a small bite . . . here are some of my favorite verses from my reading this morning in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 "You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD."

The Lord is constantly trying to humble us. We think we do things, but we don't. We can't do anything without Him. These verses grabbed my attention when I got to He "let you be hungry . . . that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD." The Lord allowed the Israelites to be hungry so that they would know it isn't about physical food. He wanted to refine their character and make them more like Him.

So yes . . . it is all for our good . . . even going hungry. Will we trust that He is teaching us even when we don't have everything that we think we need? Will you still love & serve Him even if He lets you be hungry?

(In verses 11-18, He goes on and addresses this situation more including money.)

Learning about Humility

I've been learning alot about my pride in case you haven't noticed from my previous postings. I spot pride quickly in people, bkz I hate my sin of pride, and I hate seeing it in other people as well. But it again becomes about me & my pride. "I see your pride . . . you better deal with it!" My attitude has been judgmental, tense, & divisive, not always outwardly but to myself. However, if unattended to, it will become outward.

People's pride comes out in controlling personalities, extreme insecurity, extremely opinionated, cockiness, etc. After spending some time processing how difficult it is to love people who are like this, the Lord reminded me of my struggle with pride, and how humility is the antithesis to pride. I've been praying for the Lord to teach me humility withouth humiliating me, and He has been so graciously doing so. (I'm so grateful!) As I sat in my car processing how I could deal with these people, and then being reminded of humility, I remembered back through my most recent interactions with difficult people, and the Lord showed me how I can be humble in those situations. He showed me that I need to speak less & listen more. When I visualized what it would look like with me not feeling the need to voice my opinion, disapproval, etc, I thought, that reminds me of how Jamie Work is. He is gentle, kind, peaceable. He doesn't always speak, when he certainly could . . . this is godly wisdom (James 3:17). This is very different from my judgmental & tense attitude. Then I looked up and saw the beginning of chapter 3, and realized it is all about controlling the tongue. When you control the tongue, you control the whole body! James 3:2 says, " . . .we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well."

I've been learning alot, so I know that this blog may not make as much sense to you as it does to me, but I wanted to share it. Our tongue gets us into alot of trouble, and if we can be humble & control our tongue, I can see why James calls him a "perfect man."

Its About Him

I've been reading Colossians this week, and each morning, I'm brought back to how everything is about Christ. He is the head of the body. He is preeminent. Everything we do should be for Him. We should constantly look at things like He would look at things.

I struggle hard to do this somedays. Some days I win, some days I lose. Most days involve me winning some & losing some. As I struggle today , I realize it is bkz my eyes are on what I want, not what He wants. He wants my eyes on Him. I want my eyes on Him . . . but I want what I want too.

Lord help me to be willing to give up my desires in order to achieve what You have for me to do. Help me to be completely satisfied in You.

Romans 8:31-39 . . . one more time

One of the verses in this passage that I usually gloss over is interesting . . . FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED. This comes right after Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Hold on . . . why are we being put to death all day long? What kind of love considers us as sheep to be slaughtered?

This passage used to be one of those sappy passages for me: "Oh!!! God loves me!!! Yea!!!" This is true, He does love me. He loves me so much that he refines me. He slaughters my flesh, so that I can live anew in Him, bkz He continues with . . .

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So He loves us . . . and absolutely nothing can separate us from His love which is available to us only bkz of Jesus Christ.

Back to Romans 8

Last night, our small group was dissecting Romans 8:31-39. Romans 8 is one of my favorite chapters in Scripture (along with Philippians 4), so I was excited to cover this chapter in our small group.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 (NASB)

It was the one of the same parts that usually sticks out to me, but in a different way. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The first thought was, how could tribulation, distress, etc separate us from Christ's love? Does the fact that we have nothing to eat change the fact that God loves us? Then it clicked. No. It doesn't separate us from His love. But when we are in the pit of despair and things are going badly, we say "Why God? Why don't You care what I'm going through? Where are you?" He is right there with you!

He promises that no matter what you are going through is going to separate you from His love. You don't have to ask where is He! He is right there with you!!! He loves you!!!

. . . . more thoughts on this passage tomorrow . . .

Rejoice

Philippians 4, especially vs 4-9, seems to always be on my heart. I guess bkz it is so outside of our box to rejoice in all things & be anxious about nothing. Things haven't been going so well the last several weeks, and I've been very anxious & depressed about them. I've been trying to pull myself out of this funk, but the more I try, the more deeply I descend into the pit of self-pity & such. Many times I go to Psalms when I'm feeling like this, but sometimes I go deeper into the funk when I'm in Psalms. Today, I needed a life preserver, not someone to associate with my griefs.

Remembering that Philippians is the book about joy, I opened it up. I read it the whole book, but since Philippians 4 has always been a favorite spot, I camped out there a little bit. Verse 5 has always seemed a bit out of place to me. I'm still not sure that I completely understand its place, but I think some light may have been shed on it today:

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

In my anxiety & depressed mood, I've become irritable, short with people, unloving, etc, etc. I've been doing everything in my pain, but having a gentle spirit. So Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! I don't feel like rejoicing. Then Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. But I don't have a gentle spirit. Then get one bkz the Lord is near!!! You should be contented & joyful bkz He is right here! So . . . Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

God, Thank you for being near. I need your help to rejoice. I need your help to have a gentle spirit, but when I remember that You are near, it helps so much. Help me not to be anxious. Help me to seek hard after You on my knees being grateful for what You are going to do. Your peace will protect my mind & heart that get a bit out of control sometimes. Help me to focus on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute, excellent, and worthy of praise not things that are anxiety provoking, fear-based, false, ugly, sinful, etc. Help me to rejoice, be gentle, & be at peace in Your arms.

Cliches

Cliches drive me crazy, but unfortunately, they are cliches for a reason. Why? Bkz most of the time they are true or at based in truth. There are some Scripture verses that have become cliche:

For God so loved the world . . .
Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me . . .
But the one I think I hear the most is based in Romans 8:28: all things work together for good. I think I hear this one the most bkz even unbelievers essentially quote it when they say, "it will all work out for the best!" Not necessarily . . .

Look at Romans 8:28 (NASB) in its context. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom he predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

God causes all things to work together for who? For those who love God & are called. What is good? to be conformed to the image of His Son. It isn't necessarily happy or fun. Most people don't like the process of being conformed to the image of His Son. But those who love God and are called are content with the outcome of that process. So be careful where you throw this verse around. BUT, be encouraged! God makes all circumstances in the lives of those who love Him and are called, to make them more like Him. That is the goal of life to be like Christ & give Him all the glory.