Author: Briana Almengor

Ready, Day 3 Are You In?

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Thessalonians 1
Romans 3:21-24
Romans 6:20-23

Ready, Day 3

“Notice the small things. The rewards are inversely proportional.”
–Liz Vassey

Deep within the core of our bodies lies a muscle called the psoas. You’ve likely never heard of this muscle unless, like me, you’ve logged time with a physical therapist. This single muscle is hugely important, stabilizing our spines, connecting the two major parts of our skeletons, and allowing movement by joining our upper bodies to our lower. If this muscle becomes tight or is injured, the domino effect can lead to pain that runs all the way down one’s leg into one’s foot, numbness, weakness, and even a lack of mobility altogether if left untreated.

That single muscle packs a powerful punch when it comes to how our bodies function, and we do well to attend to its needs.

Likewise, throughout Scripture, we want to pay attention to small words that may carry great significance, helping us uncover all the goodness God has for us in His Word.
For our purposes in 1 Thessalonians 1, we want to give attention to a small word, just two letters long, “in.”

Read through the chapter again and make note of all the places you spy this little, powerful word.

Now for a grammar lesson.
(Some of you, like me, will nod your heads in staunch agreement that grammar matters when we read Scripture. Then, there are those who are chagrined that I even mentioned the word in a devotional article. Stick with me.)

Prepositions are like tendons; both connect. Tendons connect bone to muscle. Prepositions connect nouns or noun phrases to some other part of the sentence. For our purposes, it’s important to know “in” is a preposition. So, as we read 1 Thessalonians 1, whenever we see or read the word, “in,” we want to ask a few questions.

First ask, “in what?” or, “in whom?”

For example, we read, “To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (1 Thessalonians 1:1, emphasis mine)
In what or whom?
The answer is, “God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ.”
Putting it all together, we then have, “IN God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That is a prepositional phrase.

Now, go through the entire first chapter of Thessalonians again and write down all the prepositional phrases you discover beginning with the preposition, “in.”

Here is what you should have found:

Most prepositions, including the word “in” are words that indicate placement or position. “In” is only one of these types of words. Other words like this could have been chosen for this text, such as beside, before, above, around, off, outside, near.

So, why use “in” versus other prepositions?
What if the text read, “Around God the Father and Lord Jesus Christ” or “Before our prayers,” or “Beside the Holy Spirit”?

IN describes a very different reality in regard to our spiritual identity.
I want to be IN Jesus, not just near Him.
Those for whom I pray want me to mention their names IN my prayers to God, not before my prayers.
I need the Holy Spirit’s power IN me, not merely around me, as I seek to live and speak as Jesus did.

Several years ago, my niece and nephew were publicly baptized, and I was able to be present for this special event. The church they attend gave them T-shirts by which to remember the occasion. The front of the shirt read, “All IN.”

That phrase, accompanied by the baptism, left a profound mark on my soul. I watched my then-13 year old nephew and 11 year old niece proclaim they were all IN with Jesus, with His kingdom rules and rights alike. I rejoiced with them for making a definitive statement at a young age. It’s no small thing to draw such a line in the sand, especially in early, formative years when the pressures to be all IN with the crowd are strong. I was not only proud of my niece and nephew; I was sobered by their commitment. It caused me to consider my own.

The day after their baptisms, my nephew was in an ATV accident that claimed his life. To say it shook our family to the core is an understatement. In our disorienting grief, one thing kept us from completely falling apart. It was the knowledge that my nephew was all IN with Jesus; we, too, were being held together IN the arms of Christ.

Friend, I pray you know the security of being all IN with Jesus. All IN means acknowledging our attempts at living a perfect life fall short (Romans 3:23). But, Christ’s perfect life can be ours by exchange! He died on a cross to take the eternal consequences for our shortcomings (Romans 6:23). He allowed His body to be broken so we could know wholeness. He came INTO our world so we could one day be ALL IN His perfect Kingdom, where righteousness and peace reign.

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Worship VIII Day 6 Our Beautiful Jealous God

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Exodus 34:10-14
Exodus 20:1-6
Isaiah 42:5-8
Jeremiah 10:6-7

Worship VIII, Day 6

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” ― A.W. Tozer

Our Creator God is a jealous God?? In what human relationships is jealousy known to be a good thing? Have you ever experienced the benefits of jealousy?

Upon first consideration, this idea of God as holy AND jealous seems confusing or contradictory, right? Yet, it’s clearly communicated throughout Scripture. So let’s dig into this concept together, asking God to enlighten our spirits.

As you read my words, and more importantly, the words of Scripture, I pray you will recall Isaiah 55:8-9, which reminds us our thoughts are not God’s thoughts nor our ways, God’s ways.

While we are made in God’s image, some aspects of God are wholly “other,” with no human or creature reference at all. For example, His omniscience. Is there any reference point we, in our limited human understanding, have to grasp an ALL-knowing Being? No.

I would urge you to understand the Holy Jealousy of God in this light. It is a perfect jealousy; it is not tainted by insecurity, capriciousness, rage, or malice. 

It is rooted fully in the perfect and sacrificial love of God.

One has only to go to the foot of the cross to see undeniable and compelling evidence for how much God loves us; there, we understand God’s jealousy for our worship of Him alone in the light of His LOVE for us and His zealous desire for our highest good.

Let’s turn to God’s Word to wade into the deep waters of understanding God as other and God as jealous.

“No god was formed before Me, and there will be none after Me.  I—I am the Lord. Besides Me, there is no Savior. I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—and not some foreign god among you.” (Isaiah 43:10-12)

“I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God but Me.” (Isaiah 45:5)

“Look, I am the Lord, the God over every creature. Is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)

“The God who made the world and everything in it—He is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.” (Acts 17:24-25)

“He is the blessed and only  Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to Him be honor and eternal power. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15b-16)

And finally, Isaiah 53:10 reveals the will of God the Father to crush His Son, Jesus, for our FREEDOM.

When we consider God’s jealousy for our worship is birthed out of His love and passion for us to experience only the highest good, we can rightly frame God’s jealousy as holy. Our worship of God alone brings wholeness and peace, rightly ordering our affections and pursuits.

I have seen this truth within my own life. By the time I reached college, I had an inward sense that I was born a worshiper. (I know now that we are ALL born to worship something.)

For most of my life, I worshipped my own image with greatest devotion. By college, I finally became aware of my self-absorption. I longed for others to think well of me.

I also longed for a boyfriend who would one day become my spouse and (in my Disney-inspired, imagined sense of reality) make all my dreams come true, fulfilling my longings for love and acceptance.

Long story, short, I did marry . . . but not the first man who caught my eye. My husband wasn’t even the second or third man who swept me off my feet and stole my heart. Three times over, I watched my idol of a life partner burn to the ground, its ashes left to demonstrate the hollow and fleeting nature of the object of my worship.

Now, after nearly 2 decades of marriage, I understand no earthly spouse can hold the weight of my needs and expectations to be loved and accepted.
Only God could do this.
Only the God who numbers the hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30) could also be my ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1).
Only God, who knows the words I will speak before they even come out of my mouth, could also demand my whole-hearted affection, devotion, and thanksgiving like no other.

He is jealous for our worship.
Not to satisfy His own need, but to satisfy our hearts in His sufficiency.

He is a worthy, jealous God. 

For further study:
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/god-is-jealous-for-your-joy
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-jealousy-of-god/
https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-god-a-jealous-god.html
https://gracequotes.org/topic/god-jealousy/

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Redeemed Day 13 Paid In Full

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Ruth 4
Deuteronomy 25:5-6
Leviticus 25:23-28
2 Corinthians 8:7-9

Redeemed, Day 13

High up on a mountain, where two rivers meet and men fought for the freedom of slaves, my then-fiance asked for my hand in marriage.

Harper’s Ferry, October 27, 2001.

There are plenty more details to my engagement story, and don’t you want to hear them all? Who doesn’t love a romantic proposal?

Did you know Ruth 3 is a proposal story? But as we read on to Ruth 4, we see it’s not a romance novel, but a legal thriller!

When we read Scripture, it’s important to first grasp the cultural context. So to begin this study, let’s learn why land, and therefore redeemers, were pivotal to Ruth’s story.

As we’ve discussed previously, Elimelech and his family left their home of origin, Bethlehem, because of famine. Notably, when Elimelech left Bethlehem, he most likely sold his land; this is a safe assumption based on what happens later in the book, and also a significant detail.

For the Israelites, land was vital. While land was ultimately owned by God, parcels of land were assigned to specific tribes, clans, and families from which an Israelite knew his identity and experienced the provision and kindness of God.

When her husband and sons died in Moab, Naomi was in a desperate situation. She was in a foreign land without a provider. According to Torah law, she couldn’t buy back her family’s land in Bethlehem because she was a woman and a widow. She needed a kinsman redeemer.

Naomi knew Boaz could fill the redeemer role, but it was entirely his choice, and a huge responsibility. It’s important to understand Boaz had much to lose in stepping forward as redeemer. Boaz would have to purchase the land from his own wealth, and his first son from marriage to Ruth would be considered Elimelech and Naomi’s heir:

“The women said to Naomi:
Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today [ . . . ]
Indeed, your daughter-in-law [ . . . ] has given birth to him.
Then Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became his nanny.
The neighbor women said, ‘A son has been born to Naomi!’” (Ruth 4:14-17, emphasis mine)

NAOMI is recognized as this child’s mother, not Ruth! And this hours-old baby is recognized as the kinsman redeemer, NOT Boaz.

As a mother of three children whom I carried for nine months, labored with for hours upon hours, and delivered under great distress, this stood out to me greatly. I wanted to scream, “That’s not fair!”

But understanding what was required of Boaz as kinsman redeemer in Jewish culture allows us to see the goodness of God in sending His Son, Jesus, as our kinsman redeemer, in a clearer, more beautiful light.

Just as Boaz had everything to lose and only relationship with the woman he loved to gain, Jesus had everything to lose and only relationship with us to gain in becoming our kinsman redeemer.

Jesus not only gave up His life; He gave up perfect communion with His Father in Heaven.
He gave up sole claim on His inheritance to share it with us.
He gave up His righteousness to take on our sin.
He gave up His divinity to take on human flesh.
And then, He gave up that flesh to a shameful death through cruel crucifixion.
All He had to gain was us, who, like Naomi, brought nothing but our desperate need.

Ruth is a book screaming of the upside-down nature of God’s ways. Truly, it’s not actually about Ruth; Naomi is more prominent than Ruth. We could even make a case for Boaz being a more central character than Ruth!

Yet, the book is named “Ruth,” and the genealogy of Jesus outlined in Matthew includes Ruth intentionally.

I surmise this is a signpost, reminding us of the inclusive nature of our God. He not only longs for all to know Him; He wants all to play a part in His redemptive story!

Don’t miss the prophetic nature of Ruth, either. Dire circumstances bring Naomi and Ruth back to Bethlehem, the same town where Mary and Joseph would one day travel under dire circumstances, and the same town where it was prophesied the Messiah would be born.

At the time of loss, Naomi and Ruth didn’t comprehend their place in God’s amazing redemption story; all they knew was their need.

At the time of their journey, Joseph and Mary could not have grasped the full scope of their roles in His redemptive story. All they knew was their need to get to Bethlehem and possibly deliver an illegitimate child along the way.

Could it be all we know right now is our need and yet, within that need, God is working out His master plan, amazing and redemptive and full of His glory?

The story of Ruth shows us how God preserved an entire family line
and how God preserved and provided for ONE person—one woman—within that lineage, Ruth.

God does not forsake the individual for the good of the group, nor does He sacrifice His ultimate redemptive plan to care for the needs of one. He, unlike us, accomplishes it all simultaneously, making a way where there appears to be none.

In God’s desire and plan to redeem people from every nation, tribe, and tongue, He does not gloss over each person within those people groups. He sees one and He sees all. He loves just one, and He loves all.

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Neighbor Day 1 The Neighbor Kids

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Psalm 78:1-8
Luke 10:25-37
1 John 3:16-24

Neighbor, Day 1

“We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbor,” declared G.K. Chesterton. I believe the same truth applies to our families. Often, we subconsciously think of family as an entity apart from friend, foe, or neighbor.

For a LONG time in my life, family was in its own, separate category. I took family for granted, treating them in ways I would not treat anyone else. Familiarity can, indeed, breed contempt, and I was caught in its trap.

Something shifted, however, when I began to view my family as humans, and even more so when I applied the Biblical definition of neighbor to my loved ones. I believe we can and should view family as our neighbors, neighbors whose relational ties grant us access to their lives to show them Good Samaritan love.

I am both a mother and an aunt: mother to three, aunt to twenty nieces and nephews. There are 23 children in my life whom God chose for me to love like my neighbors.

Apart from my three children, most of my nieces and nephews do not actually live near me. Yet, they most certainly have been placed in my proverbial path, along with many other special kids from church and my neighborhood.

As Deuteronomy instructs, we can take on the mantle of responsibility and privilege to speak of Jesus not just to the children we bore from our own bodies, but the ones our brothers’ wives and sisters bore from theirs. We point them to God’s standard of holiness, while also and always reminding them of His promise to clothe us in His robes of righteousness when we fall short of that standard. (Colossians 2:13-15)

Whether it’s our nieces, nephews, or the kids down the street, we can demonstrate unconditional love both in word and deed.

A simple way to demonstrate love is to make eye contact when they are speaking or sharing something of import with us. We can forget how children, in particular, need that very sensory-oriented connection with us. Put the phone down to look at them. If your only interaction with them is when you greet them with a hug and say goodbye with another hug, be sure to look them in the eye. Giving them our whole attention in this manner declares both their value and our love for them.

Show interest in whatever interests them. This may involve a learning curve, especially as the age gap deepens. Even with my own children, I’ve had to posture myself as a student of their interests. We can sit with them and ask questions about the sport they play, the internet game they’re into, or the books they read. We might even do a little research ahead of time to know what questions to ask.

Another simple strategy is to recognize special days in their lives. Remember birthdays with a gift, card, or even just a phone call. We can request a heads-up for sporting events, fine arts performances, and any other extracurricular activity with which our nieces and nephews might be involved. Then, we can attend, if possible, or send a note of remembrance or encouragement to them ahead of their event. Celebrate championships, or even just a goal scored at their game.

As children grow older and have access to email or social media platforms, it’s easy to follow them and comment on their posts. This communicates that though we don’t see them daily, we think about them often. God has written them on your heart.

I encourage you to press in when you know they’re going through a challenging season. During a visit to my brother’s house, two of my nieces had a tough morning and simply couldn’t make themselves go to school that day. My brother and sister-in-law had to work, but I was still home visiting.

I took the opportunity to seek my nieces out in their pain, and asked if they wanted to talk. Surprisingly, they did. Both girls opened up to me about performance anxiety and hard social dynamics at school. Though they both had shared these troubles with their parents, there is something unique about being able to share it with an adult who is NOT one’s parent.

Being an aunt or uncle is an invitation to be a confidant, if we’re willing to press into the painful moments, too.

When we allow God to frame our view of neighbor to include our family, we ask God to give us a vision for demonstrating selfless love to our particular family, with its specific interests and needs. We can trust Him to guide and empower us to love our family like our neighbors.

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Questions Day 15 Does God Care?

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Peter 5:6-11
Psalm 56:8-11
Romans 8:31-38

Questions, Day 15

“There is a place where there is an aggregate of human suffering and questioning.
That place is the heart of God.” –Ravi Zacharias, Cries of the Heart

Life holds both purest joy and deepest pain.

Have you experienced a heavy heart, unanswered questions, bitterness that threatened to eat you from the inside out, or anger rooted in grief over unfulfilled longing or loss?

To you, aching sister, I say,
I stand with you in your grief; I hold my own.
I stand with you in your questions; I ask my own.
I stand with you in the bitterness seeking to destroy you; I battle it, too.

I am not writing because I have all the answers. Even after decades of following Jesus, of wrestling long hours, sometimes whole seasons (with the God of the universe to whom I’ve given my whole-hearted devotion), I still ask this simple yet excruciatingly painful question,

“God, do You see me? Do You hear me? Do You care?”

I share your struggle, and I offer what I have learned in hopes it will help you, too.
There is peace available, peace born of resting in the assurance that
God cares deeply for you.

He is our Immanuel, God with us, ever abiding in the darkest recesses of our lives and hearts.

Let’s start with the Bible, a living, active, and power-filled book. (Hebrews 4:12) God inspired many men to write the Bible, preserved its contents over thousands of years, and its power continues to be demonstrated as by it, the Spirit of God transforms believers.
The very gift of His Word is evidence of God’s care for us.

Let’s embrace this precious gift! Read His Word, commit precious passages to memory, and repeat them aloud in your dark moments, and experience His nearness as a result.

God’s Word is both the evidence and activity of His care.
“Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.”
(1 Peter 5:7; emphasis mine)

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
(Matthew 10:29-31; emphasis mine)

“You yourself have recorded my wanderings.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?”
(Psalm 56:8)

Read 2 Kings 20:5, Psalm 139:3, and Malachi 3:16 to see for yourself:
God is aware of all our ways.
He takes notice and listens.
He hears our prayers, sees our tears, rescues, defends, and heals.
In countless ways, He demonstrates His care.

I tend to question God’s care only in the midst of hurt (can you relate?).
My cry crescendos as pain persists without relief or resolution.
At these times, we must ask ourselves, with brutal honesty,
“Do we want God to manifest His care, or do we just want Him to make everything better?”

When experiencing pain, it’s natural to want it to end,
pleading with the Lord to make our aching stop.

It’s also natural to question God’s goodness in these times
as we look around and wonder if God is really for us, or if He has forgotten us.

The antidote to both of these is to anchor our hearts, over and over, in the rich depth of God’s unchanging character. God’s comfort and care for us does not change based on our circumstance, or how we feel about Him as we interpret our shifting surroundings.

The book of Mark records a life-threatening scenario for the disciples. Waves crashed over their small fishing boat; drowning was imminent, even for seasoned fishermen, and they cried out to the Lord,
“Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?!” (Mark 4:35)

They wanted the intensity of their circumstances to cease,
while also questioning whether the Lord cared about them anymore.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Jesus’ response?

“Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

Christ’s antidote to our natural tendencies when we encounter pain is faith; trusting God for Who God is.

Rather than looking at the waves washing over our “boat”, we can focus our attention on recalling all the ways we already know God cares, and is caring, for us in the middle of the storm.

We experience God’s care when we study the truth of His character in Scripture.
We experience God’s care through songs resounding with reminders of His nature and promises from Scripture.
We experience God’s care through stories of others who have found His grace sufficient to endure suffering, and persevere with the understanding pain is always part of a bigger picture framed by God’s redemption.
Lastly, we experience the most convincing assurance of God’s care when we remember Jesus.

God knows how driven we are to believe only what we perceive with our five senses.
Out of His deep love for us,
He sent Jesus, in our human flesh,
so we could see and hear and touch and smell and know
God. Does. Care.

Romans 8:32 says, “He did not even spare his own Son but offered him up for us all”;
nor will we be spared from suffering. (John 16:33)

However, God abandoned His Son so we will not be abandoned in our suffering.
We may share in Christ’s sufferings, but we will NEVER share in abandonment by the Father.

May our prayer echo the prophet Habakkuk, asking God to lift us to the heights to see with eyes of faith the everlasting love and specific care of God in our lives.

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Here Day 10 Simeon

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Isaiah 52:13-53:1
Luke 2:22-35
Isaiah 25:1-9

Here, Day 10

Though I often stumble as I amble because I am an old man,
today I could run like the youth and fly like an eagle. (Isaiah 40:31)

I have seen the salvation of my people!
He came in flesh, wrapped in linen, carried by a virgin.
Oh, the miraculous grace of my Lord!
Oh, His kindness that He gave sight to my faith.
Oh, the wonder of how this baby will save my people and more than I can imagine.
Oh, the heartache his mother will bear, his father will not be able to spare her from.

I endured a fitful night of sleep, woke early, and felt I must go to the temple right away as the Spirit led me. As I watched precious parents parade into the temple with lambs, or turtledoves and pigeons for those of meager means, I spotted Him and my heart quickened as God’s Spirit moved within me, opening my eyes to see His Promised One.

I stood for a few moments, taking in the scene before me. So long have I waited. So long have I prayed. Shamefully I recall my doubt when the years stretched on without answer. Yet, despite my doubt, the Lord has proven faithful. Tears stream unabashedly down my beard as my eyes drank in the long-awaited sight of the Messiah.
His mother so attentive to His cry, His father so attentive to His mother, and I marveled at the miracle of it all.

The Messiah!
How many have waited for this day right along with me, and yet, as I looked around at the crowd, my heart broke with agony.
They do not know! The ONE we have waited generations for is here, in our midst! Yet, they carry on. Oh Lord, make them see, I breathed.

The priest accepted their offering, 2 turtledoves, the offering marked out for the poorest of the poor. (Leviticus 12:8) Emotion flooded me as I realized Yahweh’s powerful grandeur lay before me wrapped in peasant flesh. Here. He was here with us.

And suddenly, overwhelmed by the Spirit, I moved forward with eyes only for the small, poor, sacred family of three as they left the altar. I approached, gently inquiring if I might prophesy over their child. They eagerly handed Him over as though they knew already what I was going to say. Had they been visited, too? Did they know Whose tiny fingers gripped theirs? Did they see how the One who held all things together was now being held by them? Unfathomable!

Nevertheless, I took this boy, just eight days old, raised him in the air and proclaimed by the Spirit,
Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. For my eyes have
seen your salvation. You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples—a light for
revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.

I returned the boy to His parents, having held the Author of Life in my hands. Though my tongue had now stilled from the Spirit’s work, my heart continued in prayer as my soul lifted to heights I’d never experienced.
The wait was over, Hope was here!

Yes, this baby will bring joy, peace, and salvation, but His life will also perplex, anger, and confuse others. He will not rise on the accolades of all, nor fall from the targeted anger of those He offends, but He will live out His destiny.

And now I have lived out mine.
You promised, my God, that my faith would be given sight. You promised I would see Your Salvation.
You promised I would see the Messiah.
You promised, and though it felt like I might have misheard you at times for the longing of it, and the waiting for it, You have kept your promise. You have kept Your word.
You are faithful!

Here I am, an old man fulfilled in your kept word.
Here I am, a man whose life has been devoted wholly to you, satisfied and finding it all worth it.
The questioning, the doubting, the mocking at times by my own?
All worth it.
You kept your word.
You are worthy. 

For those who have yet to experience You and Your faithfulness,
may Your grace be upon them. 

For sweet Mary, whose heart will near break in two at the fulfillment of your word,
may Your grace be upon her. 

For Joseph, just a man called to raise the Son of Man,
may Your grace be upon him.

For all those who will question the life of this baby, the far-reaching grace of His life,
may Your grace be upon them to believe.

For those who will be questioned in their belief because they do not fit the mold of your Promised people,
may Your grace be upon them to persevere in hope.

For those who will condemn and betray this Messiah because He is not who they want Him to be, may Your grace be upon their souls. 

Have mercy, dear God, upon all
just as You have had mercy on me. 

And, now, I am at peace.
However much longer my days, I know a peace that nothing can pierce for my hope has been realized. Give this peace to all who may look upon the eyes and life of this baby and hope as I have, now, and for all time to come.  Amen!

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Focus Day 1 Do I Really Want To Follow Jesus?

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Read His Words Before Ours!

I Kings 3:3-15
Proverbs 1
James 1:1-18

Focus, Day 1

If you could be granted one wish,
for what would you ask?

King Solomon was given such an opportunity.
He encountered God in a dream where the Lord asks, “What should I give you?”

We don’t know if Solomon pondered this for some time, or if he just came out with it, but we know he asked God for wisdom. Of all the things Solomon could have requested, he asked for wisdom: something intangible and internal versus a thing of earthly value and external form. 

The Lord granted his humble (and wise!) request and Solomon went on to wisely rule God’s people while increasing in wealth and fame, he then penned Proverbs, taking truths given him by the grace gift of God and making them available to everyone. In the opening chapter of Proverbs, Solomon directs us to both the Source of wisdom and the path on which to find it: “the fear of the Lord.”

God is the Source of wisdom;
fearing Him is the path on which we find it. 

Fearing God can be a biblical concept with much confusion surrounding it. I appreciate the way R.C. Sproul draws from Martin Luther’s explanation of biblical fear of God when he quotes Luther:

[The one who fears God] has a fear or an anxiety of offending the one he loves, not because he’s afraid of torture or even of punishment, but rather because he’s afraid of displeasing the one who is, in that child’s world, the source of security and love.

Fear of God is a grasp of both God’s love AND His power that informs the kind of respectful, awe-filled fear we are to hold for Him. This posture toward God is the starting line on the path of wisdom.

The book of James, which we will be studying for the next several weeks, fills in the proverbial skeleton Solomon sketched for us on what wisdom from God looks like in the everyday life of the believer.

In the first chapter, James describes how the quest for wisdom begins by asking for it, just like Solomon did. And, just as God gave to Solomon, so He will give wisdom to us.
Only here in James, God provides qualifiers on how He will give wisdom: generously and without finding fault to the one who asks in faith, without doubting.  (James 1:5)

If you’re anything like me, you are pumped when you read God’s promise to give you wisdom generously, but nearly immediately sink, crestfallen, when immediately following, you read how the one asking must not waver in faith.

I tend to expect the worst while hoping for the best with fingers crossed for extra, superstitious good measure. Not exactly the poster-child for God honoring faith. 

I think part of my finger crossing comes from my own double mindedness as James references in verse 8. I have divided loyalties. God’s wisdom vs mine.

You see, the goal of the world’s wisdom is to avoid pain and be promised prosperity.
The goal of God’s wisdom is a steadfast abiding with Him no matter what our lot holds.

When James exhorts wisdom seekers not to be “double-minded,” he is telling us not to vacillate between the world’s wisdom and God’s wisdom.

Later in the book of James, we will see how peace accompanies God’s wisdom.
One of the qualities of a peace-maker, something God calls all His children to be, is wisdom. The two work in tandem. 

Many know James to be a book of “to-do’s.” If that’s the case, I make the case that here in the first 18 verses, he is essentially saying,
“In all that you do, do wisely that which promotes peace.
And, as you seek to apply God’s wisdom to pursue peace,
it is going to take you through trials, in which you’re going to need a
whole lot of endurance!”

If like Solomon, I was given the opportunity to ask for anything from God, I must admit my default is asking for a pain free life.
My divided loyalties are showing….

I ask God, but I move forward shakily NOT because God has withheld wisdom, but because
I don’t always want the wisdom HE supplies.

Because God’s wisdom, while promoting peace, does NOT always promote a pain free life.

Divided loyalties.
And I must decide….

Do I really want to follow Jesus?

Do I want my comfort more than I want to look at the cross and remember why walking in the fear of God, the beginning of wisdom, is worth it every time?

More often, I want my ease more than I want God to be glorified.
I want success as the world defines it, not a steadfast spirit.
I want escape from trial, not endurance within it.

As we delve deeper into the book of James,
I pray our minds will be renewed and our hearts transformed
to see the lasting beauty and goodness of pursuing wisdom that comes from God.

I’m praying His Spirit will gently, yet definitively, reveal where and how we are being double minded, holding onto our divided loyalties.
These divisions that steal life despite their promise of comfort, peace and ease.

Only one can give those gifts.
Jesus.

Do we really want to follow Him?

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Captivating Day 1 The Middle Of The Story

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Read His Words Before Ours!

2 Corinthians 2:4-17
Colossians 1:24-29
Judges 13-16

Captivating, Day 1

I catch Ms. Eileen out of the corner of my eye as we sing the chorus to “Only King Forever.”
You are the only King forever
Almighty God we lift You higher
You are the only King forever
Forevermore, You are victorious

Ms. Eileen is the older sister/motherly type figure in my life and my children’s. She is the one my husband refers to as “The hugging bandit”.
She is coming my way and I know what she wants and will lovingly give: the biggest, tightest hug one can take without choking.

My one son, who is not the touchy-feely type, jokes that Ms. Eileen could kill someone with her hug. My other son, however, gleefully smiles with open arms, eager to receive her gift.

When Ms. Eileen is seated, the scent of her lingers in the air, on my shirt, and on my son’s head. It is the fragrance of Ms. Eileen.
It is the aroma she carries on her and sweetly leaves behind.

As I read 2 Corinthians 2 of believers being the aroma of Christ, carrying the fragrance of life or death depending on whether the recipient has trusted Jesus, is seeking Him, or has turned away, I think of Ms. Eileen.
Scent-wearers carry with them an odor, some more pleasant and welcoming than others. *For the record, I am quite fond of Ms. Eileen’s fragrance. 😉

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience where someone wearing a strong fragrance embraces you and then you “smell” that person on you the rest of the day.  In similar lingering fashion, the gospel brings a lasting fragrance of either life or death.

This aroma of Christ is something we, as believers, ARE, not necessarily something we do.
It is, however, directly correlated with the message we profess and the hope we offer to others through the gospel.

God delighted in creating Adam and Eve and provided everything they needed for life, even boundary lines by which they would know their lives were intended for worship to the Lord. God gave one command: do not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17).

Man, deceived by God’s enemy and his own desire to rule over himself instead of trusting God’s good love for him, sinned against God and crossed into disobedience. (Genesis 3)

God sent His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment man deserved for the sinful state perpetuated in every human being since Adam (Romans 5:12, John 3:16).

By trusting in the atonement of Jesus, man receives forgiveness of sins and is given the gift of eternal life with God, forever dwelling in perfect communion with Him (Romans 10:9).

As Christians, we are called to both
declare these truths
and live this hope.
In this way, others catch the waft of Christ’s fragrance.

The people within the walls of our home are the ones receiving a front-row seat to this dramatic, fragrant affect.
The pleasing fragrance intensifies as we devote time to studying God’s Word and conversing with Him in prayer. Its aromatic tendrils extend towards those we love, first for the ones at home, who are the first witnesses of our dedication to the living God and His active Word.

Its attractiveness is found in the soft answer we return to harsh words.
It’s on display as we patiently endure through suffering, both in everyday trials and intense life-storms.
Its winsome delight is displayed in our willing surrender of our preference to another’s and as forgiveness is extended before apologies are even made.

In these ways we emit the aroma of Christ.

Eyes are watching.
Hearts are witnessing.
How deeply do we love the Savior?

To those in our homes and families for whom the veil is being lifted (2 Corinthians 3:15), witnessing our life and hearing our hope is the beginning of sight for them!

But, it is a hard, hard reality to accept that for some within our families,
the fragrance of Christ we embody will be to them the stench of death.

Our motives will be questioned.
Our meekness, mocked.
Our “religion” considered a crutch.
And, it will sting.

I imagine it stung deeply for Samson’s parents, too, when the boy they were gifted deceived his parents, denied his consecration, and followed after his fleshly desires rather than God’s purposes for his life.

As a mother of two teens and one tween-ager, I have a different vantage point reading Samson’s story than when I read it as a child. Now I see through the eyes of Samson’s parents, and my heart breaks for the years they surely spent in travail for the wayward choices of their son.  I imagine (because the Scripture doesn’t say) them appealing to Samson, pleading with God, angling to arrange God-fearers to influence Samson to turn from his selfish, arrogant pursuits and dedicate his life afresh to the God Who set him apart from birth.

We know the end of Samson’s story.
We know the faith of his parents eventually became his own.
We know Samson turned to God in the final moments of his life. And, though his eyes were gouged out, Samson finally was granted sight.
He saw God for Who He is: The Only One with infinite power to both destroy and save.
The One who longs for all to find life and so He tarries patiently.

All of us, however, are still in the middle of both our stories and others’.
Our children, parents, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles; all of our family members are either carriers of the aroma of Christ or catching whiffs of us.

For those in our families, whether unbeliever or Christ-follower, we live out love, travail in prayer, and proclaim with our lives and tongues the greatest news ever given!

Jesus loves me this I know

For the Bible tells me so

Little ones to him belong

They are weak but he is strong

Yes, Jesus loves me

Oh, yes Jesus loves me

Yes, Jesus loves me for the Bible tells me so

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Worship V Day 10 My Jesus I Love Thee

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Read His Words Before Ours!

I John 4:13-21
Romans 1:18-25
Ephesians 1:3-14

Worship V, Day 10

Before we delve into the history, lyrics, and application of this timeless tune, take a few moments to listen in.
Listen to the words as well as the melody.
Consider closing your eyes to remove distractions from your sight, or watch the video as it plays to help you focus.
My Jesus, I Love Thee!

What thoughts came to mind as you listened?
What emotions welled up?
Maybe your thoughts and emotions mirrored the lyrics and you were caught up in a most blissful state of being.
I hope so.

For me, however, my thoughts and emotions often run counter
to the heart and soul of this song.
I have had to do some hard living lately.
My “adulting” game is fierce, and I have more than once questioned my love for Jesus.
By life’s circumstances, I am tired, hurt, and perplexed.
If I were to pen lyrics to this tune they would go a bit more like this:

My coffee at sunbreak is my only hope.
The chocolate at midday is my way to cope.
My children, beloved, for whom I would die
If ever I loved ones, “My kids” is my reply.

Oh fitness, I love you, endorphins you give.
Real food, in your tastiness, my best life to live.
I love you for bringing curves to my wasteline.
If ever I loved a thing, healthy living sublime.

Friendships, how dear to me, those near and far.
Through trials and triumphs, your love above par.
Those new, old, enduring relationships
Have been for me everything, the anchor of my ship.

To food, friends, and family, I look for my hope.
You are my refuge when with life I can’t cope.
My greatest devotion to you I give,
Make you all my god unto whom I live.

Maybe the details are different for you, but my guess is there are as many other things/people/pursuits of which we make God-replacements as there are folks reading this.

What I listed above is not bad in and of themselves. In fact, most are precious gifts from God Himself to help us through life, to encourage us, give us a sense of purpose and a context in which to live out His love. But how quickly and often they go from being a gift from God to Whom we give thanks to idols we demand and think we cannot live without.

When the words of this beautiful hymn cannot be a sincere declaration of our hearts, they can be transformed into a prayerful petition.

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou has first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree.
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now

God knows our state of being today just as He knew yesterday’s and tomorrow’s too.
We don’t have to pretend with God.
We can bring our current status directly into His throne room of grace,
covered by the blood of Jesus,
and know God wants to love and transform us at the same time.
In God’s Kingdom ways, these two things are not mutually exclusive,
but mutually inclusive.
One cannot nor does not occur without the other.

William Featherston wrote “My Jesus I Love Thee” in 1864, and I wonder what might have been competing for his attention and affection for God at that time in history. Regardless, Featherstone, at either age 12 or 16 (history is not clear) penned a poem that would eventually be transformed into a hymn; one many still sing today.

Featherston is not known to have written any other poetry or created anything else in his relatively short life time. He died just before his 27th birthday. History legends that Featherston sent the poem to his aunt who believed it was worth publishing. Years after Featherston died, Adoniram Judson, famous missionary to Myanmar, put the words to music and included it in a hymnal where the poem-turned-tune became broadly known.

What impresses me is the fact that Featherston was not seeking fame or fortune;
he was simply expressing his adoration to Christ.
God is the one who ordained events such that Featherston’s adoration evoked the adoration of likely millions more as his words found their way around the world.
The fruit of Featherston’s worship was not made known
until after his life on this earth had passed.

What might that teach us about adoration and fruitfulness in our own lives?
Could it be that our worship, sincere and surrendered,
may bear more fruit than our work for God ever could?

Might it be that the quieter moments between us and Jesus
lead to loud moments of great impact after we are gone?

To close, why don’t you take another few minutes to ponder, pray or pipe out the words to this classic hymn, considering that worship is a choice, not based on feelings or circumstance, but on the precious, unchanging character of the God we serve!

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