Surrender Day 10 True Joy

February 3, 2023 by Sara Cissell Leave a Comment

Surrender Day 10 True Joy

Sara Cissell

February 3, 2023

Faith,Future,Giving,Greed

Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Corinthians 9:19-27
Matthew 6:16-24
Hebrews 12:1-3
Daniel 1:8-21
Psalm 16:7-11

At my daughter’s baby shower, we received a pink ceramic piggy bank inscribed with the word joy. A crisp two-dollar bill flared from the slit in the top, the first investment deposited.

As I write this Journey Study, the significance of that piece of pottery, and its message resonate with me.

In our western culture (and likely in many others as well), an emphasis is placed on money and the future from an early age. How many commercials or ads are there for financial planners, banks, money-saving apps, ways to make money, or ways to save money?

At the same time, we are bombarded with messages encouraging us to indulge ourselves, to spend that money on what brings us pleasure.

Yet the Bible challenges us, “Don’t store up treasures for yourself on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.” (Matthew 6:19-20)

What exactly does that mean?
The Lord calls us to invest intentionally with our eyes towards heaven and our hearts bent on joy, rather than pleasure.

But what does this look like in ordinary life?

Let’s start with the reality we will not live on this earth forever. (Thankfully!) We are here for an appointed time and our lives are like vanishing vapors (James 4:14) in the timeline of this planet.

The common phrase regarding material possessions, “you can’t take it with you”, is acutely accurate! In the piggy bank analogy, investing solely for the sake of storing up money on earth will result in a full piggy bank, but it will be left behind when I pass away.

Alternatively, suppose I take Jesus’ words to heart and spend my time on earth intentionally investing in the eternal life still to come? The guaranteed result is true joy now and unimaginable rewards later!

…But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, for where your treasure is, there your heart (read: deepest joy and delight) will also be.”

Joy is a naturally produced “fruit” of the Holy Spirit living, working, and breathing inside our surrendered souls. (Galatians 5:22-23) Therefore, true joy is a result of an ever-deepening walk with the Lord, one which grows over time with dedicated discipline to focus or hearts on the unseen and eternal.

Conversely, what enemy deadens our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s voice?
A heart and mind satiated with the pleasures of this world.

How quickly our hearts are cut with this realization!

Pleasure is not inherently negative but putting it before our relationship with the Lord is a pattern for destruction of true joy.

One of my pleasures is reading and watching movies. Being caught up in a storyline and learning from the characters is one of my favorite ways to relax. However, I allow this pleasure to hinder my walk with the Lord when I use it to avoid processing my emotions with Him. Rather than taking my thoughts to the Lord in prayer, I sometimes pick up a book or hit play on a movie in order to disconnect, effectively barricading my passageway to true joy.

Surrendering earthly pleasure to the Lord in those moments would enable me to gain the Lord’s wisdom, comfort, and perspective. Additionally, I may gain time to further His kingdom because I am more aware of my surroundings, rather than lost in the midst of a good story. Regardless of our individual lusts to satisfy ourselves with personal pleasure, the clarion call remains for every heart to draw near to the Lord, finding Him to be our fullest Sustainer and Satisfier!

Daniel knew the value of looking to the Lord to fulfill him in the face of pleasures. Instead of eating the rich food the king provided, Daniel ate what the Lord had outlined as valuable. (Daniel 1) His surrender of fleeting, vapor-like pleasures resulted in far weightier benefits and favor from the Lord God.

When the Lord asks us to trust Him and forego pleasure, His benefits always outweigh the cost, even if we don’t see immediate results.

With stunning beauty, Jesus demonstrated this as He surrendered Himself to death in our place. He denied Himself the pleasure of commanding His authority in the situation and allowed Himself to be crucified because of the joy set before Him: eternity with us.

Mind blown.

Jesus knew the value of investing in what was eternal, in what would bring true joy.
And it was anchored in His humble surrender.

May we each be quick to surrender temporary pleasure for enduring joy!

“You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.” (Psalm 16:11)

Tags :

eternal,hope,invest,patience,perspective,wait

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It is okay to spend your money on earthly treasures like antiques and vacations, but it is not okay to make them your heart’s treasure. Can you live without them? How much would it hurt your heart if you couldn’t have those things anymore? Our hearts should treasure heavenly things, that which impacts the Kingdom of God, the most.

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Wilderness Day 3 Job’s Wilderness & My Own

March 9, 2022 by Paula Romang Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Job 19:25-27
Job 23:10-17
Job 42:5-17
Psalm 18:25-36
1 Peter 1:3-9

Wilderness, Day 3

Life is like embroidery work.

A piece of embroidery has two sides, two stories stitched simultaneously. The back is often a tangle of knots and strings, giving only a faint suggestion of the front image. Our life on earth is like the back of that piece, while God is creating a magnificent work of art on the other side; a stunning, eternal masterpiece.

Tucked away in the Old Testament lies a remarkable story that mirrors this sort of heavenly embroidery: the story of our brother Job and his staggering loss. His struggles challenge his understanding of God and leave him with more questions than answers.

Before we reach the end of chapter one, we find him stunned and grief-stricken. (Job 1) Job had recently placed the lifeless bodies of all 10 of his children in their graves. In the space of a few hours, he became a dweller of the surreal Land of Loss all grievers know well. In this land, nothing matters but the gaping wound and the ever-present pain.

The dust settles and Job’s questions arise.

“Why was I not stillborn;
Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb? [. . .]
Why is light given to one burdened with grief,
And life to those whose existence is bitter,
Who waits for death, but it does not come [. . .]
I have no rest, for turmoil has come.” (Job 3:11, 20-21, 26)

Wealth can be rebuilt, illness treated. Children cannot be replaced. Yet these priceless treasures were unceremoniously ripped away in a freak accident.

Job had no explanation. He was not privy to the conversations between God and Satan relayed in the text. (Job 1:6-12, Job 2:1-7) His confusion is warranted; His understanding of God and His ways were just body-slammed.

Like Job, our finite minds conclude our all-powerful, compassionate God can and should stop all suffering; yet, He doesn’t. We all have scars to prove it. Any notion suggesting God miraculously delivers His own from painful trials is patently false. (John 16:33)

So, in the quiet back channels of our soul, the unending “why” rises like a mist. Our suffering doesn’t make sense; He doesn’t make sense.

We’re reminded of the back of the embroidery work, where life is mostly a confusion of outlines, knots, and strings. Truthfully, Job never received answers to the questions haunting his sleepless nights, and we may not, either. Still, truth remains; God acts for His holy and eternal purposes. (Isaiah 40:12-14, 21-26)

I have spent ample time in the ash-heap of grief. Our brother Job buried ten children; I buried one. During my sojourn into loss, several stabilizing mindsets emerged, anchoring my soul with solid hope. Solid hope, I found, resides in solid truth—the truth of Scripture. As I began the practice of marinating my soul in Scripture, I came to know God as my Companion and Friend. The more deeply I knew Him, the more I trusted Him, which empowered tenacious devotion, gritty faith, and audacious obedience. (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Frankly, were it not for my solid foundation of truth, I would not have survived Matthew’s long-term illness and death with my faith intact.

Though my anchor held fast, I too, wrestled through puzzling contradictions and unanswered questions. However, through the pain and confusion, this truth rose in an ever-present whisper: life on earth is not our only. Eternity awaits just beyond, through the veil of time and space.

As I await eternity, I find encouragement in Apostle Paul’s words:

“Therefore, we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

This truth gave perspective and purpose for the pain, while infusing a deeply-abiding, grounded hope and true joy for the reality of eternity.

This solid relationship with God empowered me to face life with unanswered questions, much like our brother Job. In the dark night of my soul, He whispered, “I see you; I am with you. I’m doing something deep and beautiful. Trust Me.” His words were mostly about trust and relationship; very little was said about changing circumstances in my favor.

Through the loneliness and desperation rose quiet, peaceful intimacy. He became my treasure and joy. I became fruitful, even in the place of pain. Knowing my Jesus was in control, holding my boys and I in His arms, became enough for me. I could maneuver through the knots and strings, knowing Who was creating a masterpiece on the flip-side.

Though we live on the backside now, when we see Him, He will flip the embroidery piece. We will be stunned at the masterpiece He created from what we only knew as tangled knots and strings. How could we imagine He’s been working all along, refining gold through our painful trials, weaving glistening threads through our darkest days, and crafting delicate, priceless jewels from our deepest sorrows.

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Alive Day 8 The Groaning

September 22, 2021 by Rebekah Hargraves Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Romans 8:18-23
Romans 8:15-17
2 Corinthians 5:16-19
Genesis 3

Alive, Day 8

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly awaits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility–not willingly, but because of him who subjected it–in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we who have the Spirit as the firstfruits–we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (Romans 8:18-23)

As we have been journeying together through Romans 8, we recently read “Adopted” covering verses 15-17, which told us of our adoption as children of God and our inheritance as co-heirs with Christ, both in suffering and glory. In turning our focus to verses 18-23, we unpack what is meant by “sufferings.”

Today’s passage speaks to our innermost groanings experienced on a daily basis as we journey through life in a fallen world. Not only do we groan, but the whole of creation groans right along with us, not one aspect of creation remains unaffected by the fall. All of creation groans for a better life and a more eternal inheritance, because our world was never meant to be broken this way.

This world, according to verse 20, has been “subjected to futility.” The Greek word for futility is “mataiotēs,” and literally means “what is devoid of truth and appropriateness, perverseness, depravity, frailty, want of vigour.” Reverend Matthew Henry, a great author of Bible commentaries, further explained, “There is a present vanity to which the creature, by reason of the sin of man, is made subject. When man sinned, the ground was cursed for man’s sake, and with it all the creatures (especially of this lower world, where our acquaintance lies) became subject to that curse, became mutable and mortal, under the bondage of corruption.”

Never before has the reality of this groaning seemed as clear and tangible for me personally. As I write, I am a mere three weeks into my husband’s first deployment, a separation I know is a direct result of the fall. Were it not for sin, disease, and trial in this life, military deployments would be unnecessary and my kids and I would not be separated from our favorite person for the next several months. We are only three weeks in, but we’ve already experienced our own fair share of groaning.

Because of the fall and our disobedience, we experience a brokenness all around us in this life, a suffering which often feels too much to bear. In those moments, it’s vital to understand such misery is not doled out at the whim of a cruel God, but is the direct result of our sin.
Our sin is a slap in the face of God’s righteousness and His loving care towards us, His creation.
Our sin is not a mere mistake, accident, or “no big deal” we can just explain away.
Rather, it is something we must own, for it keeps us impossibly far from God – were it not for Christ.

The good news in the midst of this hard, sad reality is that Christ has secured for us a sonship, an adoption into the family of God which provides us with a rich inheritance. Just as we have been made alive in the Spirit, so, too, do our bodies anticipate the coming inheritance of life on a new earth.

The most blessed and encouraging part of this inheritance?
It is so rich and grand that it renders the sufferings of the here-and-now
as nothing in comparison!
(Romans 8:23)

Which is saying a lot, considering just how painful our sufferings can be! Yet truly, our suffering is a mere blip on the backdrop of the whole of eternity, a painful blip, yes, but nothing compared to the unimaginable joy that will be ours! (Romans 8:18)

As long as these days of deployment feel, they are nothing compared to the unending years of eternity.

As challenging as solo parenting is for me in this season, it is nothing compared to the unending joy and peace I will enjoy for eternity.

As alone as I sometimes feel right now, it is nothing compared to the unending fellowship I will have with the God of the universe and all His people for eternity.

It is true that life in this fallen world is hard.
But it is also true that hardship doesn’t get the last word.
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul reveals how God sets about making all things new in our hearts when we come to Him in salvation. And this restorative aspect of God’s character? It will see its final and ultimate manifestation on that glorious day when the world-breaking curse is itself broken. (Revelation 21:1-5)

So, take heart, dear friend, in the midst of whatever hardship these words find you.
We’ll be home – for all eternity! – before we know it if we lay claim to the gift of Life that Jesus holds out to each of us right now!

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Terrain Day 9 Bethlehem & Nazareth: Digging Deeper

August 12, 2021 by Marietta Taylor 1 Comment

Terrain Day 9 Bethlehem & Nazareth: Digging Deeper

Marietta Taylor

August 12, 2021

Faithfulness,Fruitfulness,Gift,God,Jesus,Life,Mercy,Salvation,Treasure,Worship

Discover the original intent of Scripture. Make good application to our everyday lives.
Become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!

Read His Words Before Ours!

John 6:22-35

22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw there had been only one boat. They also saw that Jesus had not boarded the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone off alone. 23 Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. 27 Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”28 “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. 29 Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”30 “What sign, then, are you going to do so that we may see and believe you?” they asked. “What are you going to perform? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”32 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”34 Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always.”35 “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

The Original Intent

1) Why were the people looking for Jesus? (verse 25)

The events in this passage take place just after Jesus miraculously fed five thousand people with a young boy’s “five barley loaves and two fish”. (John 6:1-13)

The people were determined to make Jesus king over them and had spent the night and part of the morning looking for him. They knew Jesus did not leave in the boat with his disciples and were confused about how he got to the other side. According to the Bridgewater Bible Commentary, “the people wanted him to be king not because they felt any spiritual need, but because they thought he had magical powers that could supply all their daily needs.”

Jesus had done a great sign pointing to Himself as the long-awaited Messiah. But the “ people missed it. In John Piper’s sermon, “Do Not Labor For the Food That Perishes”, he states, “What they did was fixate on the product of the miracle, not the person of the miracle. And so the sign ceased to be a sign for them.”

How tragic to be graced with the wonder of the Messiah you’ve read about all your life only to singularly focus on the wonders done by the Messiah. Would that they were more like the shepherds in the field who simply worshipped Jesus, the Messiah when he was born.

The Everyday Application

1) Why were the people looking for Jesus? (verse 25)

We often read the Bible and criticize the Israelites. But aren’t we often guilty of the same things we fault them for? I can raise my hand here because sometimes I seek the gift more than the Giver. I anticipate the treasure from God more than the treasure that is God. There is even false doctrine that is centered on this very concept. It has fooled many people into the same thinking the Israelites had.

But unlike them, we should be like the Psalmist who praises God and thanks Him for who He is, thereby pleasing God. As believers, we should always check our motivations. David Guzak instructs, “Often we can learn more from understanding the reason we ask God a question than from the answer to the question itself.”

Let us make a daily habit of determining if our desire is for the Lord or for what He can provide. May it be that our heart echoes King David’s in Psalm 27:4.

The Original Intent

2) What is the difference between “the works of God” in verse 28 and “the work of God” in verse 29?

When Jesus told the people to work for spiritual food instead of food that perishes (Verse 27), they were still focused on how they might get what they were looking for. Enduring Word Commentary explains their response as “Just tell us what to do so we can get what we want from You. We want Your miracle bread and for You to be our Miracle King; tell us what to do to get it.” The works of God to them was a checklist that, when completed, would result in the reward Jesus spoke of.

“The work of God” Jesus refers to is not work at all. Eternal life was not something they could work for. Romans 6:23 boldly proclaims, “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You can’t work for a gift. It’s freely given. The work of God was “simply believe in Him that God sent.” One verse that sums it up is John 3:16, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The Jesus they were conversing with was offering Himself, the Son of God, the work of God. All they needed to do was believe in Him. Not His works, Him. Jesus was ready and willing. But again, they missed it because they misunderstood who He was.

The Everyday Application

2) What is the difference between “the works of God” in verse 28 and “the work of God” in verse 29?

Works based salvation is the idea of our salvation being tied to works. If one were to believe this you would be embroiled daily in a list of “the works of God” you need to do so that you can “earn” eternal life. This is not how you gain salvation. There is one way to be saved, Ephesians 2:8-9 says it best. “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

We are saved by faith in Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross, “the work of God”. There is no set of tasks we can do, no amount of good deeds we can perform that will allow our names to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It is by faith alone, in Christ alone. The second part of this is that when we are saved, we begin a new life.

This life, Ephesians 2:10 tells us, will include good works, not for salvation, but as the fruit of faith in Christ. Even after we are saved, we can get caught up in doing works because we think God will love us more. God loves us the most already. God loved us and Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8) There’s not much more love than that! One way we can keep ourselves grounded in “the work of God”, is to daily acknowledge God as the source of our salvation while also asking Him to lead us to the good works He has planned for us. God will never steer us wrong!

The Original Intent

3) What does the statement in verse 35, “I am the bread of life” tell us about Jesus?

I am. God reveals himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14 with the title, “I AM WHO I AM’. And Jesus starts this statement declaring He is God, I AM. He was the Word walking around in flesh, dwelling with the people (John 1:14) But Jesus also gets specific.

In response to the Israelites reminiscing about the manna “Moses” gave to fulfill their hungry bellies, Jesus let them know God was concerned with providing for their spiritual hunger, by giving bread from heaven. “The true bread from heaven gives eternal spiritual nourishment. It is infinitely superior to the manna provided in Moses’ day, which met only physical needs.” (Global Study Bible) Jesus that bred from heaven, the Bread of Life.

This “I am” statement tells us that Jesus is loving and merciful. Only a loving God would provide salvation for such sinful, selfish, self-centered people. We also learn that Jesus is sufficient to provide what the people needed, even though they didn’t realize what that was. Jesus, the Messiah, willing to be “poured out like water”, thirst, and be pierced for their sins so that they could have eternal life (Psalm 22:14-18) What a Savior!

The Everyday Application

3) What does the statement in verse 35, “I am the bread of life” tell us about Jesus?

On this side of the cross, we know that Jesus is the Messiah. We have the Gospel accounts and the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. But there are still things to learn from verse 35. Christ is our satisfaction. There are so many opportunities for “pleasure” as the world defines it. We can indulge in as much or as little as we want. Not all of it is bad, but one thing is universally true. Nothing we engage in will keep our appetites quenched.

Chuck Smith puts it this way: “…though a person pursues after the pleasures, the excitements, the thrills of the world, one thing about them is that they’re just not lasting. It isn’t long before you’re thirsting again. But Jesus said, “I’m the bread of heaven. God has sent Me. And if you eat of Me you’ll never hunger again, and if you believe in Me you’ll never thirst again.” What glorious good news!” Glorious indeed! We also learn Jesus is our refreshment.

In the blazing summer heat, a cool drink of water is so refreshing. It makes us feel revived. Jesus is our perpetual source of refreshment. No matter what the situation, when we feel the heat, He is available to refresh and restore us. (Revelation 21:6-7) He is the One who will never forget or forsake us.

Be prepared for those times when it feels like life has turned up the heat and you’re fading fast. Have your list of Scripture verses ready to draw upon. Think back on all the times God has sustained you. The Lord will refresh you. He will be all you need.

Tags :

Answers,Bread of Life,eternal,free,I Am,Messiah,questions,Savior,Simple,Spiritual Hunger,sufficient,works