Author: Mary Kathryn Tiller

Worship IX Day 5 Holiness & Humility

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Ezekiel 8:1-18
Psalm 24:3-10
Romans 12:1-2
Psalm 95:6-11

Worship IX, Day 5

For far too many years, I sat on the sidelines of Sunday morning worship. While the people around me lifted their hands and wiped away tears, I shifted uncomfortably, praising the Lord with my lips but questioning Him in my heart.

It took me years to confront the disconnect I experienced. When I finally did, the Holy Spirit revealed that my inability to connect with a hymn on Sunday morning was merely a symptom of a much larger heart issue. A heart issue that was affecting not only my ability to worship God with my words, but my ability to worship Him with my life.

Throughout the pages of Scripture, we learn God never intended worship to be confined to a fifteen-minute interval during a Sunday morning church service. Instead, worship was meant to be an all-encompassing attitude and way of life! We were meant to worship God with every act of our body (Romans 12:1), every word of our mouth (Hebrews 13:15-16), and the very breath in our lungs (Psalm 116:2).

Worship, in its purest form, is living our lives completely surrendered to, and in step with, God. This requires both holiness and humility.  Through the story of Ezekiel, we see how powerfully God will use a life fully surrendered to Him, and how devastating it is when we choose pride and sin instead.

A Look at Ezekiel

I love the opening lines of Ezekiel, as they set our scene much like a play. In them, we find Ezekiel sitting alone on the banks of the Kebar River, which runs through the land of Babylon. In the very first verse, we learn this day is Ezekiel’s 30th birthday. As a member of the Levite tribe, this should have marked the year Ezekiel was initiated into his priestly duties (Numbers 4:2-3); instead, he is denied his destiny and lives in exile, thousands of miles from Jerusalem and the Lord’s Temple.

While Ezekiel is sitting on the riverbank, imagining all that should have been, the Spirit of the Lord seizes him and Ezekiel experiences a vision. (Ezekiel 1:2) In his vision, Ezekiel sees God, sitting on His throne, set upon a sparkling crystal platform. The platform is propelled by four turning wheels and held up by four fearsome creatures he later identifies as Cherubim. From within His cloud glory, the Lord speaks to Ezekiel, who is to be called into God’s service after all; this time, as a prophet and messenger to His people, the Nation of Israel. (Ezekiel 1:4-2:2)

The Lord’s Indictment

Fast forwarding to Ezekiel 8, we see the Spirit of God transporting Ezekiel back to God’s Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Once there, he is taken on a tour, where a guide shows him scene after scene of Israelites worshiping other gods and performing sickening pagan rituals in the very house of God.

This flagrant display of sin and pride not only incurs God’s righteous wrath and jealousy, it actually forces the Lord out from the temple and pushes His presence away from His people. (Ezekiel 10:18)

Angered and heartbroken (Ezekiel 6:9), God calls Ezekiel to warn Israel of the destruction they are bringing upon themselves. He instructs Ezekiel to put on a series of prophetic plays before all the people in exile. Many of these ‘plays’ demand Ezekiel endures a level of humiliation and suffering, laying on one side and then the other, bound for months on end (Ezekiel 4:4-8), eating bread which had been baked over cow dung (Ezekiel 4:9-15), and shaving his head and beard (Ezekiel 5:1-4). Fully surrendered to the will of God, Ezekiel obeys God’s call on his life and body, faithfully demonstrating true worship in the face of the blazen idolatry among his kinsmen.

What This Means For Us

The book of Ezekiel serves as a sober warning to the people of God, as well as a reminder of what true worship requires.

Worship requires an intimacy, a closeness with God that can only be achieved through holiness. Because our Holy God cannot be in the presence of sin, we must purify our hearts and hands in order to draw near to Him. (Psalm 24:3-4)

For the Nation of Israel, holiness was earned by strictly adhering to God’s Laws and regularly performing animal sacrifices. As modern-day Chrisitans, however, holiness is not something we achieve on our own. Instead, it is imputed to us by Christ, as He covers us through His sacrifice on the cross and washes us in His blood if we will surrender to His love.

Worship requires humility, a willingness to lay down our pride, our rights, and our very lives at the feet of the only One who is worthy of all praise. In this place, nothing is off limits to God, as we live fully surrendered and available to His call.

As I look back on those years where my love for God was stifled, I can see the sin and pride choking my heart. Just as He did through Ezekiel, God called out the darkness in my life and drew me back to Him through an attitude of holiness and humility. Sisters, I invite all of us to live every day in surrendered worship to Him, for through God’s great mercy, He will peel back the layers of death surrounding us and regain our hearts for Him!

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If Day 5 Without Sin

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Genesis 18:22-26
Deuteronomy 32:1-4
Job 34:10-15
James 1:13-18
2 Timothy 2:11-13

If, Day 5

My six-year-old daughter is full of questions. If she’s not asking what set the sun on fire, she wants to know why our noses point down instead of up. It’s a fun and exhausting season as I find myself trying to explain ideas I’ve taken for granted. My favorite questions, though, are the ones she asks about God.

One such question came up as I tucked her into bed the other night, “Mama, can God sin?”

“No, Baby, God is wholly good; He can’t sin.” I quickly replied, hoping this wouldn’t delay her imminent bedtime. Seemingly satisfied, she rolled over and fell asleep; leaving me alone with my swirling thoughts, wondering . . .

But, What if God Could Sin?

Throughout Scripture, the prophets and saints tell us with passion and certainty that God is without sin.

In Deuteronomy 32:4, Moses declared God to be “[t]he Rock–His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A faithful God, without bias, He is righteous and true.”

During his diatribe to a grieving Job, Elihu said, “It is impossible for God to do wrong, for the Almighty to act unjustly.” (Job 34:10)

In his letter to the early Church, James warned, “No one undergoing trial should say, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ since God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt anyone.” (James 1:13)

It’s clear then, according to Scripture, God is without sin, He could not possibly act unjustly, or fall into the temptation of evil. 

But what if God could sin? What would that mean for His character? What would that mean for us? What if, just for a moment, we considered the impossible? Perhaps, it would lead us to love the Lord just a little bit more than we already do.

Daring to Engage With the Possibility
First, we need to understand what sin is. In his book, Systematic Theology, Dr. Wayne Grudem asserts, “Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature”. (p. 491)

Sin violates God’s law either by action (ie: physically stealing someone’s belongings) or attitude (ie: coveting someone’s possessions). But it’s also anything that violates God’s law by nature. What does that mean?

When Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating the forbidden fruit, they ushered in a new human nature. Their “DNA” was altered, so to speak; it became corrupt. Therefore, every human thereafter is born into this world bent toward sin and destruction, in direct opposition to the will of God.

This is what makes our situation so hopeless without Christ. We come into this world inherently opposed to God, with no way to reconcile ourselves.

Uncovering The Real Question
Now that we’ve defined sin, we understand “could God sin?” really means, “could God violate His own moral law?”

According to 2 Timothy 2:13b, the answer is NO: “if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

In other words, God cannot be anything other than Who He is.
So who is God?
Well, among many other things, God is omnipotent, righteous, and holy.

God is Omnipotent (all-powerful). God’s omnipotence means He can do anything, right? But if He can’t sin, is He truly omnipotent?

Yes. You see, when we sin, it is often because our will fails and we bend to Satan’s power. So, in order for God to sin, He would have to give in to temptation; His will would have to bend. But because God is all-powerful, His will can never fail. No temptation can overpower Him. If God could sin, it would be a sign of weakness, proving He is not all-powerful, and therefore, no god at all.

God is Righteous. In His letter to the Romans, Paul considers human nature and declares, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). God, however, is righteous, meaning He always does what is right and just. (Psalm 119:137-144) If God was able to sin, He could act unjustly or even cruelly. An unjust (and all-powerful) god would be a terrifying reality.

Finally, God is Holy. To be holy means to be untainted by sin and set apart for the service and glory of God. If God could sin, He would no longer be holy. And no longer holy Himself, He would have no power to make us holy, leaving us without hope and without a savior.

After consideration, I am compelled to agree with Scripture: God is, indeed, without sin.
He cannot act unjustly or cruelly.
He cannot deny Himself.

I’m so thankful for these truths. And I’m thankful to serve a God who invites us to come to Him as a child- a crazy, inquisitive child- and seek His truth. For when we do, our hearts cannot help but echo Jeremiah 10:7 in exclaiming,

“Who should not fear You, King of the nations?
It is what you deserve.
For among all the wise people of the nations
And among all their kingdoms,
There is no one like You.”

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Blessed Day 1 Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Matthew 5:3
Luke 12:22-34
Luke 18:9-14
Isaiah 66:1-2

Blessed, Day 1

My shoulders heaved as sobs wracked my body. I sat in the driver’s seat of my Expedition, heavy rain pouring down outside.

“That’s it, Lord! I’ve got nothing. I’m done! I can’t do it! It’s You. It’s gotta’ be all You….”

As the rain poured, so did my tears. Soon, I felt His peace.
My desperate cry was met with Love. Part of me began to hope that maybe, just maybe, I was exactly where God wanted me to be.

The Life of a God-Pleaser
The memory of that day is seared into my mind. It’s one of the few times in my life I have realized something was not within my power to do. Naturally confident and overly ambitious, I tend to believe I can (and should) do all the things.

In fact, if you’ve ever read my story, you know I have struggled often with pride and my sense of accomplishment. For too many years, I felt what I did for God far outweighed my heart for Him. This is not what the Bible teaches! In fact, Jesus addresses this specific misconception in Matthew 5:3, where He begins unfolding the Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes
The word “beatitude” comes from the Latin word “beatus,” meaning “blessed.” It most often refers to these eight verses in Matthew, where Jesus describes a series of Christ-like attitudes we, as His followers, should adopt.

I admit I have often shied away from this portion of Scripture because it baffled me. How could one who mourns be blessed? How could persecution be a good thing?

The more I have come to know Jesus, however, the more I have understood His upside-down economy and appreciate its sheer beauty. The first Beatitude in this series spoke to my heart:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” (Matthew 5:3)
“Poor in spirit,” I wondered. “Could I ever become poor in spirit?”

What It Means to be Poor in Spirit
The Greek word for “poor” in this verse is “ptochos.” It literally means to have nothing and be destitute. To be poor in spirit then, is to come to a place of understanding we have nothing to offer God in exchange for our salvation.

There is nothing within us that could earn His love!
No amount of good deeds could afford His grace.
Our salvation is completely dependent on His goodness, His mercy and His love for us.

To be a Christian is to be poor in spirit, as the only way we enter into His salvation is to know we cannot save ourselves and to put our faith in Christ.

A beautiful illustration of this truth is found in Luke 18, as Jesus tells a story of a Pharisee and a tax collector.
“He [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself:
“God, I thank you that I’m not like other people–greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.”
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’”
(Luke 18:9-14)

The Beauty of Our God
We see, once again, God is not after our good deeds, but a humbled, repentant heart. What I find so astonishing about all this is not that God would ask us to come to terms with our true state and confess it in His presence, but that He doesn’t choose to lord it over us. A lesser god would step upon our prostrated bodies. A crueler force would rub our faces in our destitution and shame.

But our God lifts our chins and meets our eyes. He promises to embrace the humbled and lift them to a place of honor. (James 4:10) He declares the beggar “blessed” and grants her a position of honor as co-heirs of His kingdom!

Have you faced your own poverty?
Have you confessed your inability?

Through this portion of Scripture, Christ is inviting you, imploring you to do so! It is safe to humble ourselves before the King because He is a loving and wildly generous God. Don’t waste another moment uttering prideful prayers! Humble your spirit and be declared “blessed!”

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He Day 6 Yahweh Jireh

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Genesis 22:10-18
Matthew 6:5-8
Matthew 6:25-34
Ephesians 3:20-21

He, Day 6

I have never felt more “unseen” than in my first few years of motherhood. With my husband coaching late night games and my son often rising before dawn, I spent most mornings wondering how I was going to make it through another fourteen hour day alone with the kids.

Those were difficult, yet fruitful years, as I leaned into my desperate need for God. I needed Him for strength, grace, peace, and joy, and He provided me all of those and more. During those long, lonely days, I came to know Him as Yahweh Jireh, “The Lord Who Provides.”

Abraham was the first to call God by this name. He did so just after an enormous test of faith, when God asked him to sacrifice his one and only son, the son born of God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation. 

In Genesis 22, we watch as Abraham binds his son, Isaac, and lays him on an altar. Abraham raises his arm, fully prepared to use the knife he holds, only to hear the Lord call out and stay his hand. As Abraham looks up, he sees a ram caught in a thicket of thorns. It is God’s provision, a substitute sacrifice to stand in Isaac’s place. Abraham’s son no longer needed to die, God had Abraham’s full attention. 

Yahweh Jireh can be defined as both “The Lord Perceives” and “The Lord Provides.” These definitions may seem at odds, but as we will see, they are really two steps in a single action.

A great example of this is found in Numbers 11:4-23. In this passage, the nation of Israel is grumbling against their leader, Moses, and ultimately against the Lord. They are tired of the manna God has provided them and desperate for meat. They are so desperate, in fact, they begin to long for the land of their captivity, Egypt. 

The Lord hears their complaints and His righteous anger is aroused. He declares He will provide them meat; in fact, He will provide them so with much meat they will be sick of it. He informs Moses He will send them quail for a month.

Moses seems indignant and replies, “I am in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, yet you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat, and they will eat for a month.’ If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” (Numbers 11:21-22)

The Lord responds, “Is the Lord’s arm weak? Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen for you.” (Numbers 11:23)

The Lord makes it clear He will be the one to provide for Israel, not Moses, and indeed He does. Not only does He perceive both the Israelites’ “need” and its origin in attitudes of ungratefulness, but He provides remedies for both.

If we fast forward to the New Testament, we see another instance where Yahweh Jireh perceives and provides. In John 6, Jesus is wrapping up a full day’s teaching alongside the sea of Galilee, when He looks up at the gathering crowd. Moved with compassion, He looks over at Philip and asks, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?”. (John 6:5)

I imagine Philip’s pulse quickened at the question, his mind reeling with the impracticality of finding, much less affording, enough bread to feed the thousands before him. 

“Two hundred denarii [nearly a year’s wages] worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little,” Philip responds, despairingly. (John 6:7)

But Jesus never intended for Philip to purchase bread. The text tells us before Jesus asked the question, He had determined a solution. He would provide the food and He would do it through the meager offering a small boy’s lunch: five loaves of bread and two fish.

In both of these instances, God perceives a need and determines He will meet it.
Both times, man perceives the need and despairs.

Are you in a place of despair? 

Do you find yourself surrounded by overwhelming problems and unmet needs? Be encouraged! There is nothing, not a moment, of our lives that goes by unobserved by Yahweh Jireh. Unlike an uninterested bystander, the Lord not only perceives our needs, He moves on our behalf to meet them. 

Nowhere is this more true than in our need for a savior. Just as God provided a ram to stand in the place of Abraham’s son, He provided Jesus to stand in ours. 

Our salvation is a need we couldn’t possibly satisfy on our own;
our sin is a debt we could never repay.
Thanks be to Christ, we no longer have to. 

His death ensured our forgiveness;
His righteousness became our own.

Whatever you are in need of today, bring it before Yahweh Jireh. He has met our greatest need through salvation. How much more can we trust Him with the rest?

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Kaleidoscope Day 6 Strength Of Humility

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Corinthians 13:4
Nehemiah 9:16-19
Philippians 2:5-8

Kaleidoscope, Day 6

“I’m not staying in this tiny town!”, I declared, my voice full of hurt and anger.

“And I’m not leaving,” my husband responded with just as much conviction.

We stared at each other, feeling every inch of the emotional chasm separating us. We had only been married eight months, yet we had already hit a wall strong enough to break us up.

I had grown up in a big city and always imagined raising my children near my parents. But, I married a boy from East Texas, with roots as deep as pine trees are tall. His family owned land and cattle in a small town and one week after we were married, we moved there, five hours away from my family.

While I could see the cracks forming in our young marriage with every stance I took, my pride kept me from letting up. I wanted to move to my hometown and live near my parents, and if my husband wouldn’t agree to that, then maybe we weren’t meant to be after all.

.   .   .   .   .

It pains me to look back at that time in my life. I couldn’t see how tightly the vine of pride had wrapped around me, squeezing the life out of my marriage.
Pride has no place in love.
This is what 1 Corinthians 13 teaches us.
To be proud is to be self-reliant, self-preserving, and self-focused.

Pride leaves no room for an “other”.
If your world is consumed with making sure
your needs are met,
your rights are not trampled,
or your kingdom is being built,
then you have no time to meet the needs of others, to speak out in their defense, or to build them up. Blinded by pride, one can never experience true love, nor can you extend it.

The antidote to pride is humility. C.S. Lewis once said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” By this definition, to be humble, is to be focused on others. As a Christian, it means to be focused on God. And in humility, we have no better example than Love incarnate: Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:5-8 beautifully depicts the humility of Christ:
“…who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be explained. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death- even to death on a cross.”

The love of Christ is unlike any other precisely because it is humble.
He did not seek His own best interests, or His own desires, or His own will.
He did not “puff himself up” or think himself too good to die for us.
He laid every right aside for the good of the world, in obedience to His father.

We see God’s selfless love throughout Scripture, not only on the cross, but also in the desert. As a “stiff necked” people, the Israelites rejected Him time and again, but God remained faithful.
He always sought them out.
He always won them back.
He never stopped loving them, no matter the cost.

And that’s the heart of it, isn’t it?
True love always costs us something.

In fact, true love costs us everything; it costs us our selves.
We see this everywhere from motherhood and marriage to friendships. We see it in our relationship with God. To truly love God is to lay down our will and humbly submit to His.

In the world, selfless love is a dangerous proposition.
In Christ, there is no safer bet.

The world warns that no one will care for you if you don’t care for yourself. But Christ’s perfect love drives out that fear. Wholly taken care of by His perfect love, we are free to love others without thought for ourselves.

.   .   .   .   .

After some time had passed, my husband broke our silence. This time, the anger in his voice was gone, leaving only sadness and desperation.

“I’m doing everything I can to make you happy here, don’t you see that? Why won’t you just give it a chance?”

As tears filled his eyes, my heart began to break. I loved this man. What was I doing? He was doing his best to make me happy in our new home. My pride was the only thing standing in our way to a strong marriage and a new life together.

In that moment, I chose to let go of my plans and trust God. It was a decision I had to make every day for the next year, as God faithfully worked in my heart to help me choose our future over my past.

Pride threatened to destroy my marriage, but humility saved it; taking my eyes off of my pain and setting them on God’s plan.  Though it was a difficult time in our marriage, we experienced the truth of 1 Corinthians 13 first-hand.
Love is not proud, it is humble and fully rests on His love for us.

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Worship V Day 3 How Deep The Father’s Love

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Isaiah 59:1-13
Ephesians 3:14-21
Romans 5:6-11

Worship V, Day 3

This week I battled shame-filled thoughts, lies, and doubts.
There were moments when, honestly, it was hard to breathe.
In those dark moments, I remembered what my worship pastor once told me about the power of worship music.

She said, “It’s not about trying to feel happy again, it’s pushing back darkness with worship. When all feels lost, sing to Him a new song”.

Taking her advice, I searched for the first song that came to mind:
How Deep the Father’s Love by Stuart Townsend.
With Scripture-saturated lyrics, my mind was called to the redemptive love Christ demonstrated through His death on the cross.

How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure

Townsend begins by echoing Paul’s prayer in Ephesians. In it, Paul expresses his desire for the Ephesian church to know “with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love”.

God’s love is truly too vast to measure, yet He faithfully makes His love known. What’s the greatest evidence of His love?

That he would give his only Son
To make a wretch his treasure

Townsend calls us wretches; despicable or contemptible people. If that seems harsh, Paul goes one step further in Romans 5:10, declaring us enemies of God, willfully opposed to Him.

Once saved, we are no longer wretches or enemies of God, rather we are His beloved treasures. In Deuteronomy 7:6, Moses speaks of Israel’s identity and worth, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.”

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns his face away

Again, Townsend calls us to consider the incredible sacrifice God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, made for us. In these lines, Townsend references Jesus’ final moments on the cross, when He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

As Christ hung on the cross, He bore the full weight of our sin. Father God, in His holiness could not look upon God the Son in those final moments as He bore our guilt and disgrace in our rightful place. (Isaiah 59:1-2) Undoubtedly, these must have been the most painful moments for Father, Son, and Spirit as they had never experienced anything, before or since, other than perfect love and unity between them.

As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Here, Townsend reveals why Christ would willingly subject Himself to separation from the Father. These wounds, His broken body, fulfilled the debt the Law demanded for sin. Because He lived without sin and willingly died, Christ became the way through which many sons would come to glory. This particular phrase, “many sons to glory” is used in Hebrews 2:9-10, where the author discusses the salvation we receive through Christ’s suffering.

Behold the Man upon a cross
My sin upon his shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

These are my favorite lines of the whole song. Every time I sing them, I’m reminded of the part I played in putting Christ on the cross. While I would love to think I would not be a scoffer like those in Mark 15:29-31,  I know even Peter denied Christ. I know I too have made a mockery of the Cross by my actions or words.

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished

Mark tells us these scoffers called for Christ to come off the cross. They dared Him to use His powers as the Son of God to save Himself. He could have done exactly that! Instead, for the sake of love for us, He chose to stay, breaking the power of sin over us if we trust in Him.

His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

John 19:30 tells of Christ uttering the words, “it is finished” and breathing His last.
Powerful words to sit with.
Even more powerful words to live out.
Because Christ died, the law has been fulfilled and eternal life with the Father is made possible! (John 3:16)
We no longer must strive or seek to earn favor with God!
Christ has paid the debt we could never pay, and through His death, we have life! (Galatians 2:20)

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powr, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
his death and resurrection

As he closes, Townsend again echoes Paul’s words, this time to the Galatians, “But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (6:14) As Christians, everything we have inherited spiritually is possible by the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit. We had no part in our salvation and so cannot boast in anything except His strength.

Why should I gain from his reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
his wounds have paid my ransom

Townsend concludes by wondering out loud something I have often pondered within my heart.
Why would Christ be willing to leave heaven to die a death I deserved?
Why save a wretch like me?
Townsend could have ended the song with another repetition of the chorus, but chose instead to end here, utterly unable to fathom why God would choose to save us while fully believing He did exactly that!

Such perfect love driving out all fear!
After spending time meditating on the truth reflected here, those dark thoughts and enemy lies dissipate. Suddenly, it’s easier to breathe.

This is the power of worship!
This is the power of His truthful Word made alive by His Spirit!

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Dwell Day 10 Clearing The Clutter

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Corinthians 7:1-6
Acts 13:1-3
Esther 4:13-17
Joel 2:12-17 
Ezra 8:21-23

Dwell, Day 10

Here’s a fun confession for you: I sometimes wish I was a nun. Granted, this desire tends to flare up in those especially chaotic moments of life. You know the ones: all the kids are crying, the oven timer is beeping, the dog just ripped open his food bag… In moments like these, the idea of dedicating my life to quiet servitude sounds very appealing.

While God clearly had other plans for my life, I do find myself longing to dwell in His presence amid the mundane. But with all the distractions of work and motherhood, I have struggled to discover a way to do this. How can I dwell in His presence while still being fully present here on Earth?

I believe these two spheres collide within the practice of fasting. When we fast, our physical needs and longing ushers our souls into His presence; and it is in His presence all our needs and longings are met.

May I share one more confession with you? Until writing this article, I never fully understood or practiced fasting; so please know, I am not an expert.  However, what I share with you below has changed my heart and I now understand it’s place and power.

Why should we fast?
Matthew 9:14-15 is perhaps the clearest picture of Christ’s stance on fasting.
“Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come with the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

According to these verses, there are two reasons we fast.
First, Christ expects it. In these verses, He makes it clear it is not a question of “if” His disciples will fast, but “when”. Sister, hear this: as disciples of Christ, we should be fasting. It is an integral part of our walk with Christ.

Secondly, we fast because we are waiting expectantly for our bridegroom. One day He will return, and we will no longer fast. Instead, we will be brought to His table and together we will feast! Until that day we will watch, wait, and fast.

John Piper once said fasting adds an exclamation point to our prayers. Daily we petition Him with our needs: “Lord, we need healing! We need guidance! We pray for your return!”. Fasting physically demonstrates our spiritual longing. It shows God we desire those things, we desire Him, more than we desire worldly comfort and sustenance.

Ultimately, fasting reminds us who is our true source of life and comfort. Food can easily become a sort of idol. We turn to food when we are hungry, celebrating, sad, and bored. We even have a term for what happens to us when we don’t get enough food: hangry. When we step away from this crutch, even for a short amount of time, we can lift our eyes up and glance at the One who we ought to turn to with all our emotions. This practice keeps us dependent on the true Bread of Life.

When should we fast?
Christian fasting is not simply done for the sake of fasting. It is done with a specific purpose in mind. Before you begin, you need to determine what you are bringing before God during your time of fasting. Are you repenting from a deep-rooted sin? Are you seeking His guidance through major transition? Are you simply trying to clear out the mental clutter and hear His voice?

Queen Esther called for a fast just before she dared approach her husband, the King, to save the Jewish people. She does so by telling her friends, “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

She was desperate for God to act on behalf of her people. She knew lives hung in the balance. To demonstrate the intensity of her need, she and her people fasted for three days.

Must it be food?
No, 1 Corinthians 7:5 makes this clear. You can fast from anything you find yourself clinging to. Perhaps that is technology, television, sleep…sex. As 1 Corinthians suggests, fasting from sex for a short time to petition the Lord together as a married couple is quite powerful.  It is not what you fast from, but what you move towards that is important.

Here is my challenge for you today: start small. Ask the Lord what He would have you fast from and when. When I did this, I determined I would give up one lunch, once a week. I would use this time to seek the Lord in whatever way He laid on my heart that day.

I believe if we obey Christ in this way, we will see some of our deepest prayers answered. Through regular prayer and fasting, we will find ourselves dwelling in His presence even in the mundane.

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Worship III, Day 3 Returning To Wonder

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Revelation 4:6-10
Psalm 5:1-3
Exodus 33:18-23
Isaiah 45:5-7
Psalm 96:10-12

Worship III, Day 3

While my mother would tell you she does not have a good singing voice, to me,
her voice will always be a sound of comfort and home.

One of my earliest memories is of my mother singing a hymn as she cleaned the house, her voice floating down the hall and into my room,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning my song shall rise to thee!”

Even now, as I remember the lines of that song, I hear it sung in her voice and I long to go back to that happy time, to my childhood home. As an adult, however, the Lord has used that song
to bring me home to Him.

I have recently come to a place in my faith where I am tired most of the time.
I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy “doing” the work of the Lord,
and not enough time simply “being” his daughter.
If you’ve read my story, you’ll understand this is an ongoing battle for me.
One from which the Lord is consistently winning me back.

One particularly harsh side effect of my busyness is I often lose the wonder of my faith.
The more I focus ministry and the service of God, zeroing in on accomplishments and tasks,
the more I forget to simply see Him, love Him, and worship Him.

In the past few weeks, however, the Lord has been playing “Holy, Holy, Holy” in my mind, bringing it up in those quiet moments. I woke one morning with this song in my head and felt compelled to look up the lyrics. An hour later I was in tears, overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of our God.

This is the power of a good hymn.
They can help us see and understand the theology of our God with fresh eyes,
bringing us to worship Him the way He deserves.

Relational & Personal
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

The author of this song tells us so much about God in these four powerful lines.
We are reminded that God is holy, merciful, mighty and in perfect relationship with the members of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

King David declares,
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;
in the morning I plead my case to you and watch expectantly.” (Psalm 5:3)

We serve a God who loves us and listens to our requests.
David knows God not only listens to us, but He responds and therefore, when we cry out to Him in the morning, we can spend our day waiting expectantly for His response.
It blesses me to know that this merciful, mighty, and awesome God
listens and responds to me.

He Alone Is Worthy
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Painting a picture of Revelation 4, the author describes the “right now” snapshot happening in God’s heavenly throne room, where elders and living creatures are bowing down and worshipping God. The scene depicted is beyond imagination: thunder, lightning, rainbows, creatures covered in rare jewels, and of course, a “sea of glass, like crystal”. While everything in this throne room is awe-inspiring, it is our eternal and infinite God, the Creator of all these things, who alone deserves our worship.
He alone is worthy of our praise!

Perfectly Holy
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Here, the author takes a moment to remind us of our sinful condition and its implications. Because we are born into sin,
we are unable to fully grasp the glory of our God.

It is my sin that constantly draws me away from worship
and into frenzied action.
But, as we know, He has not left us in this state.
Mercifully he sent us Christ,
who became sin,
defeated death,
and hides us within Himself until He returns.
It is His perfect power and love that has opened the door to intimacy with God!

Without Christ, we could not draw near to a holy God, who is completely separated from sin.
But covered by Christ’s perfect purity,
we too have been made holy and can draw near!

I love that the Lord used this song from my childhood to draw my eyes back to Him.
I am floored by the amount of wonder the author of this hymn packed into four little stanzas!
I pray that we would always remember just how wonderful, powerful, mighty and gracious our God is, and should we forget, I pray He would sing his songs over us again and give us the ears to hear Him. Amen!

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Character Day 10 A God Of Peace

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Leviticus 26:1-14
Psalm 23
2 Chronicles 15
1 Corinthians 14:33

I felt like my mind was on fire.
That’s how I described it to a friend. It wasn’t a physical pain or headache, rather it was an emotional or spiritual pressure that just wouldn’t let up.

I was in the midst of indecision.
On the brink of a major life change.
And it was killing me.

I could feel the Lord prompting me to leap, to take a chance, to do what I did not want to do and step out on the ledge.
But I resisted Him.
I sat still, in my comfy old digs, unwilling to budge.

So, He set my brain on fire. Figuratively speaking, of course.

“Mary K.,” my friend said softly, “Our God is a God of peace. If you are not experiencing His peace, you need to high-tail it back into His presence.”

As tears of release and uncertainty fell,
I knew she was right.
Later that evening, I told the Lord I would follow His lead and agreed to take the leap. As if wrapped in a gloriously heavy blanket, the fires of indecision were extinguished and my mind was suddenly flooded with God’s incomprehensible peace.

Our God is a God of peace.
Do you believe that?
Do you live as if that is true?

Throughout the pages of Scripture, we see God speak peace to His people.
We see it from the moment of creation, when He creates order out of chaos; purposely, intentionally setting things as they should be.
We see it poured out as a blessing for His people as they abide in His laws. (Leviticus 26:3-6) We see it in the green pastures and still waters David sings about in the Psalms. (Psalms 23:2) We see it promised to those who trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3) and commit to Him with all their heart (2 Chronicles 15:14-15).
His peace comes through righteousness (Isaiah 32:17); not our own, but the righteousness of Christ (Romans 5:1).
His peace is a reminder that we are not alone and have not been abandoned (John 14:27).

And, just as I experienced that day, His peace will wash over us when we cry out to Him honestly, completely, and with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6).

There is nothing God desires more than to be reunited with His creation, in perfect peace.
When sin entered the world and we were separated from God, we became children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), at odds with God and incapable of experiencing His peace.

But through His plan of redemption and our faith in Jesus Christ, The Prince of Peace, we can be called Children of God and be at peace with Him (Galatians 3:26).

Even still, there are times we allow the chaos of the world around us to stir up anxiety within us. There are times our disobedience causes our hearts to be troubled. When this happens we have a gracious Father who is quick to welcome us back under His wing and quiet our fears with his love (Psalm 91:4, Zephaniah 3:17).
He is so faithful!

“Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give to you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.” John 14:27

As I have spent the last year walking in my decision to trust the Lord and step outside of my comfort zone, this is the verse that echoes in my heart on those hard days. What I love most about this verse is Christ telling us He does not give as the world gives.

The world gives but expects something in return. Not Christ.
The world gives out of scarcity, but Christ gives out of abundance.
The world gives to add to your life, Christ gives to bring you life.

My prayer for you,
if life has gone sideways or your mind is on fire,
is that you’ll high-tail it back to the One who loves you
and drink in His peace.

“May the Lord bless you and protect you;
may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you
may the Lord look with favor on you
and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

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