Christianity – Page 13 – LOVE | ACCEPT

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Thirty

We all know the feeling, even if we are unable to bring forth the words:

Why have you rejected us forever, O God?

Why does your anger smolder against the sheep in your pasture? (Psalm 74:1)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent. (Psalm 22:1-2)

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” –which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-46)

God has not turned his back on you, it can only be that in some way, you have turned your back to Him.

Grace and peace to you.

image Sean Dreilinger

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Nine

In one week we will be in the first days of Passion week. It will a time of mixed emotions; the joy of Easter is tempered and sometimes shadowed by the horror of the extraordinary cost of the Cross. The one innocent man to have walked the face of the earth must be sacrificed that we might live. Jesus the divine reveals God to us in human form and yet, we still struggle to grasp the necessity of the cross. We work to make the juxtaposition of mercy and sacrifice understood by our hearts but lack the words.

The psalmist knows this duality well, speaking in Psalm 5,

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy;

In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple. (vv 6-7)

How rarely we see ourselves as those who speak falsehood or practice deceit and yet, like Nathan did for David, the Spirit reminds us that we are that man. We are the reason for the Cross, the reason that such an enormous cost must be paid. We continue forward toward Calvary in His mercy alone.

Grace and peace to you

image Leonard Matthews

Day 24 in the School of Prayer : In My Name

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:13-14)

Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:16)

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and you joy will be complete. (John 16:23-24)

Evangelicals have made a habit of concluding all prayers with some form of the phrase “in Jesus name” with only a vague notion of why they do so. In many cases, it has taken on the veneer of a magical incantation, as if by including these words the prayer is guaranteed to be fulfilled. Kind of an abracadabra for Christians.

And wrong.

A person’s name is how we know them. Our family and friends are not disembodied beings that we know by their features; the big one, the red haired one. We know them by their names and associate all that they are to us in that name. Say the name of your wife or husband. Not only do you see his or her face in your mind but you get the full sense of your love for that person. You feel exactly what they mean to you.

So it is with the name of Jesus. He’s not just a man. He is Lord. His name represents all that that means to us. Praying in His name says two things. One, we are His representatives, serving Him and what we do carries the full force of His Lordship. Second, when asking for what we need to accomplish His will, we ask in the full force and credit of our Lord. What we ask to fulfill His will is not denied. The empowerment we desire to fulfill His will is not denied.

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Eight

Fear is rooted in judgment. We fear being judged inadequate or our lives being judged not worthy of continuing. We fear the criticism of man. Fear paralyzes us and causes us to seek refuge in hidden places.

We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds.

You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly.” (Psalm 75:1-2)

The Cross grows bigger day by day as we walk toward Easter. What have you to fear? God has overcome all and made you an heir. What can man do?

Grace and peace to you

image jmtimages

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Seven

But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. (Psalm 3:3-4)

Is your walk toward the Cross hesitant? Do you still live in the fear of the world that you had when it had you in its grip? Freeing ourselves from that bondage is a challenge that some never defeat. We live as though God has extended his grace to us as a one-time event and then left us to fend for ourselves.

God is our foundation and our ever-present shield. We have nothing to fear and He calls each of to live our His glory in that fashion. We are liberated creations, surrounded on all sides by the shield of the Lord. Nothing can snatch us from His hand.

Grace and peace to you

image by Loci Lenar

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Six

Looking forward to Calvary our thoughts are often limited to the salvation that it brought. While we are rightfully reminded of the horrible cost of grace, we are not pressed to consider whether or not our practice of a grace-full life is commensurate with the scope of that grace. If we read Psalm 54 from the NIV we will see,

Save me, O God, by your name; vindicate me by your might.

Hear my prayer, O God; listen to the words of my mouth. (vv 1-2)

Save, vindicate, hear, listen; words that our hearts have processed so many times that we can allow them to be diminished in scope. Save me Lord! Turn my path from Hell to Heaven. To be redeemed means so much more than a ticket punch. The Voice book of Psalms retells the verses of the cry, retaining the idea but expanding the power of the language,

Liberate me, O God, by the authority of Your Name.

Vindicate me through Your legendary power.

Hear my prayer, O God; let the words of my mouth reach Your sympathetic ear. (The Voice, Psalm 54, Verses 1-2)

What does it mean to be liberated rather than just saved?

Grace and peace to you.

image zoe

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Five

It’s easy to say ‘don’t be afraid’ and an entirely different thing not to be afraid, isn’t it? We trust in our unseen Father and in the grace that he extends to us. We’re challenged when something that can be seen and touched offers an alternative confidence. Which path will we follow; the one that leads to Cross or the path of our own making?

God knows our mind, he knows when we’re considering the alternative. Despite our outward appearances, where we try to make the world believe we have not doubts, God knows our heart. Can we embed it in our hearts such that we can walk fearlessly into the darkness that surrounds the Cross?

But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge. (Psalm 94:22)

We can process that statement, even repeat it to others but can we get rid of our doubt? Confidence replaces doubt as we grow closer in our relationship with God. The more time we spend with Him, the more we hide His word in our hearts, the more we see His truths in action, the more we will know that,

"For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance. (v 14)

We will walk toward the Cross He ordains for us without fear..

When I said, “My foot is slipping, your love, O Lord, supported me.

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. (vv 18-19)

Grace and peace to you.

image rejik

Wherever Here Is, Start Here

Brothers Alex and Brett Harris set the young adult world on fire with their first book entitled Do Hard Things in which they pushed the readers (and their leaders) out of their comfort zones and into the world of apprehending challenges for Christ. Their encouragement sparked the energy and interest of countless young people but lacked an outline for how to proceed. Not wanting to lose the momentum that has been stirred up, the Harris brothers bring their latest book Start Here with an encouraging guide for how to get going fanning the sparks of enthusiasm into a bonfire.

Start Here is a rousing call to get moving for all of us in whom God plants a seed for action, but it is especially geared toward young adults and teenagers. The twins combine numerous first-person accounts with a theme that winds its way through all of the pages; just because you’re a teenager doesn’t mean you can’t be taken seriously. When we are confronted daily with images of the supposed lost state of our young people, it is heartening to read the stories of those who are obviously not spending all of their time texting at the mall. In fact, a twinge of guilt might fly through the older reader as we realize we haven’t even attempted anything on the scale of what some of the youngsters have accomplished for God.

The book isn’t a manual filled with step-by-step instructions for accomplishing your objectives. Instead, the authors have created a looser, Q & A format that helps the Hard Thing doer to organize their own thinking at each step of the way. The inductive approach is perfect for the intended teen audience who might rebel at being told that they need to follow a set of specific steps in order to reach their goals. Instead, they encounter a number of approaches in each area, including the struggles the people ran into by following their own path and from the varied approaches they can select the one that best fits their style and circumstances.

While I’m a bit outside of the age group of the core audience for Start Here, it was a valuable read and I found the earnestness of the authors and contributors to be refreshing. Youth leaders, Pastors, and Parents should invest a couple of days in reading this book before slipping it to their teens. The spark that comes from turning to any of the sections and reading the experiences of other young people may be just the thing to bring your teenager off of the sidelines and into the service of the Lord.

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Four

Do you really walk alone? It can feel like that sometimes. Those we thought were friends have moved on to other pursuits. Loved ones have issues with us, real or imagined. We echo the thought of the psalmist..

You have taken my companions and loved ones from me;

the darkness is my closest friend. (Psalm 88:18)

The modern church would prefer that this psalm disappear from the Psalter. It doesn’t fit the current paradigm of happy, happy, everything is going to be great all the time forever when I’m a Christian. Believers cannot understand how God would leave His people in the midst of incredibly difficult struggles, perhaps even for the entire span of their lives.

Look to the Cross. Jesus hangs alone. The skies darken like night. No one rises to His defense. The Father alone is in control of a History that we sometimes cannot understand. We must walk toward the Cross despite the darkness, despite the fact that we might walk along. We walk in trust that the Father’s ultimate will is for the good.

Grace and peace to you.

image BostonBill

Lent Spent with the Psalms Day Twenty Three

Who journeys with you toward the cross? Jesus surrounded himself with a close-knit band of traveling companions, knowing that one of them would eventually be his betrayer. Despite that, he invested Himself fully in them. King David shared our more human perspective on a similar situation;

But is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with who I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God. (Psalm 55:13-14)

It would be easy to consider the painful betrayals we’ve suffered and decide to walk alone. To walk by oneself means we don’t have to risk betrayal any longer, we’re safe.

Except we weren’t designed to do that.

We were meant to be in community. The travelling companions we surround ourselves with complete us in bringing along those things that we lack. But, we say, I’m not alone, I have the Father as my companion. True, but look to see if He is alone or in communion with the Son and the Spirit.

Grace and peace to you…

image sergeant killjoy