2014-02-14
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Our discussion last week of the marks (scars) believers throughout human history (including ourselves) bear leads us to a necessary comparison with those Christ carried for us. He claims to be our Savior, and how can we not believe Him in the face of the suffering He endured and the blessings He delivers to those who do believe in Him? He knows the hardships we endure for our faith and loves us for it. After all, He has given us the hope of the resurrection [RO 8: 29]. 2 COR 4: 10-11, “We are constantly delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” To this we must add 1 COR 15: 52-54, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet [shofar]. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written [IS 25: 8] will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” We must realize that when we serve the Lord, there is no waste of our time [1 COR 15: 58]. The question to answer is: Have we chosen Him?
Today, we begin looking at the emotions we feel when we are amidst a trials/challenges. It’s normal to feel stressed, tested, aching, or hurting in some way at such a time. However, it’s what we do about these feelings that makes a difference. There are even times when we become confused, doubting, feeling fragmented, and even unable to re-integrate our emotions to achieve balance. At such times we may feel like we are no longer protected, and we may even come to the end of ourselves. Ideally, we would have gone to God in prayer long before this, but we all know that in some cases, it must go this far before we are on our knees asking God for His help. We all know the story of a true believer, Job, who debated with his friends about what was happening to him, as God allowed the devil to test his faith. Even through expressions of anger, God doesn’t abandon believers struggling with Him. Even the name of Israel, means “He Struggles With God!” There have certainly been times when even true believers expressed anger toward God or with God in the course of their trials. But our God endured and brought them through. He does the same for us too. I’ll never forget how disappointed and angry I was when it became clear that I would no longer be able to sing with our church’s choir after the onset of the illness which rendered me partially disabled. Yes, I even shook my fist at God, asking Him why He allowed this to happen. I had sung with choirs for 40 years by then. But God knew better; He knew what He had planned for me, and I had to go through this to discover it. Once I calmed down and even apologized in prayer to Him, He opened the doors to the huge ministry I have now, allowing me to impact more people than ever for Him.
IS 49: 14-16, “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I [God] will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palm of My hands; your walls are ever before Me.” Yes, our God is capable of eventually bringing back His people, Israel, to faith in him, but it is a huge task. Today there are over 300 congregations of Messianic Jews in the USA alone, and there are more even in Israel. I was raised to reject Jesus as the Messiah; yet God brought me around, so I can attest to His will and strength to achieve it even in my own, relatively unimportant life. Of all of us who are Jewish, God asks, in IS 49: 6, this question which reveals His will for us, “Is it too small a thing for you to be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back those of Israel I have kept ? I will make you a light to the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” Remember that the covenant promise of IS 49: 8-9a is already being kept. “This is what the Lord says, ‘In the time of My favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people to restore the land, and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!” We all know that following the Holocaust, the state of Israel was established again on May 14, 1948 with Chaim Weitzman as its first modern leader.
If God will keep such a promise to Israel, will He not keep His promises to us as individuals? Of course, He will! But, we must place our faith and trust in Him first. Our God loves us so much, that He gave His only Son on the cross, so that those of us who believe in Him and repent of our sinning, can gain eternal life [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. Despite the fact that many of God’s human creation have disappointed Him cruelly, He has not stopped loving them or those of us who believe in His Son, Jesus. He asks us to pray for those who are falling away from Him, for those who are doubters, for those who have not yet come to faith but might potentially do so one day. It is our loving God, Who gives us faith in the first place, and He wants us to serve Him with faithful obedience to His word. We can know that we might be used as His instruments to bring His salvation to others. That is why He gave us the Great Commandment, in MT 28: 19-20. Do we look for the opportunities He gives us to share our faith in His Son? Now, that’s a question each of us must ponder.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your mighty throne to thank You for giving us the faith we have. There are times when we argue with Your decisions, but it is only because of our faulty human perspective and the doubts the adversary tries to use to build a stronghold in us. We ask You to excuse our limited perspective and to help us to gain Your perspective on the challenges that we experience. We are in need of greater control over evil emotions. We ask for Your help in redirecting any anger we have at the time, so that it may be channeled into constructive purposes which conform to Your will. IS 55: 6-7, “Turn to the Lord and pray to Him, now that He is near. Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord our God; He is merciful and quick to forgive.” We understand that Your will shall ultimately be done. We need to cooperate with You, knowing that Your goals for us are in our best eternal interests. IS 46: 9-10, “ I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. I make known from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.” Dearest Abba, we accept that Your purposes for us are wholly righteous and just; we submit to Your superior power, authority, wisdom, and compassion. We thank and praise You for Your guidance and grace. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we offer You our love, trust, and these prayers. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will begin looking at the juxtaposition of our feelings and faith. We need to understand what is coming from the Lord and what is coming from the evil one. Hopefully, the word of God will give us some guidance in recognizing which is which. In the meanwhile, let’s look at 1 JN 4: 12, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us.” If we look around each day at our lives, we will find His hand in them, His blessings given, and even His direction concerning His will for us. Learning to take the time to look for these things will bless us extraordinarily. I love the story from Thomas Kinkaid’s book, Lightposts For Living, about him and his wife, Nanette, when they were engaged. Thomas was on the west coast studying art at the University of CA in Berkeley, and Nanette was living back east. They spoke every day on the phone. Thomas came up with the idea for each of them to keep what he called a “glow book.” This would be a list of every blessing they observed from God each day. They would share them during their nightly phone calls. At first, Nanette was having trouble seeing many things. She would report her short list to him, and he would share his longer one with her. However, as time went on, Nanette began to see more and more blessings each day, as did Thomas. The lesson here is that if we practice looking for God in our lives, we too will see Him more and more each day. We will remember that each of our names is engraved on the palms of His hands! PS 9: 9-10, 12, “The Lord is a Refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You…For He Who avenges blood remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.” With a Covenant Partner like God, who can deny His love and faithfulness to His human creation? Believing Jews and Gentiles alike can look forward to the events of the book of Revelation, knowing that God will win over evil in the end. His will to bring back to His side in heaven all of us who believe in His Son and obey Him will come to fruition. What a great Day that will be, when we can see all of this before us! Praise and thanks forever be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2013. All Rights Reserved.
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