Devotion

Illustration of God’s Truths

After a week of being gut punched by the enemy to the point I couldn’t pray or worship, the Holy Spirit’s reassurance that God is still in control, Jesus’s blood still covers, and He is still working on our behalf for our good.

I will admit this week has been one of the hardest, if not the hardest, moments in my life. I spent most of it sobbing, gasping for air, and pleading for God to just work, just work. I had no other words, just sobs.

These moments are crucial decision moments where we can either lean away or lean into God. Tho I felt abandoned and hopeless, I told God I would lean into Him and what He has revealed to me over the last two years: He is there even though I can’t see Him; He is working on my behalf and on the behalf of those involved even though it doesn’t look like it; He loves me even though it doesn’t feel like it. Then I stood on the promise that it will all work out for good, and if it’s not good, it still being worked out.

Today’s devotion from Hebrews 3:1-6 shored up my legs for the inevitable battle that is right around the corner.

“Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. He is work was an illustration of the truths of God would reveal later.”  Hebrews 3:5

Moses was faithful to God in his servanthood. He never stopped serving when he got the air knocked out of him. He leaned into the Lord. Because he was faithful, everything he did – his work and life – showed the world, then and now, the truths of the God he served.

Moses was a faithful servant. He sought the presence of God, listened to God’s voice, and adhered to His commands to the best of his abilities. Those three decisions were the most important to Moses: seeking, listening, and obeying. The illustrations of the truths of God were in addition to what Moses did. They were a natural outcome of his seeking, listening, and obeying. there was nothing else that could have happened but the truths of God being revealed through is life.

One cannot constantly seek the presence of God, listen to His voice, and obey and then show anything else.

Were there be painful times? Yes.
Were there frustrating times? Yes.
Were there times when he had the air knocked out of him and he felt dismayed? I am most certain of it.

Moses didn’t have it easy, but through all of it, he continued to stay in the presence of God, and through all of it, God’s truths were revealed, illustrated, and written down for all to see.

“But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. and we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.” Hebrews 3:6

God’s house is not a building, but it is us, you and me – His followers, those who believe on Jesus’s sacrifice and accept is as our atonement.

When I was at my most vulnerable this last week, I did the only courageous and confident thing I could do. I leaned into God and asked Him to work for me. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t eloquent. It was amid deep, guttural sobs and loads of snot. The simple words were vomited out of a painfully contorted mouth. It was ugly and sad, and I felt broken and empty. It was all I could do.

When waves of hopelessness began to wash over me, I’d do it all again: “Just work, God. Please, just work.” It was a plea, not a command.

If didn’t feel courageous or confident at the time, and I still don’t if the truth be known. Relying on the fact that I am of the house of God and leaning into Jesus when devastation hits me may not look, on the outside, courageous or confident, but it is. It takes courage to lay down one’s pride and run to Jesus. Asking Him to help showed I was a part of God’s house. Knowing He would and will continue to help is revealing my confidence in the only One who can split the darkness and redeem the situation.

It didn’t feel good, but it doesn’t have to.

I am now confident that God is going not only going to reveal His truths to me and my family, but as I continue to seek His presence, listen to His voice, and obey Him, He will use us as an illustration of His truths.

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Inspirationals

A Prayer: Salt and Light

Many years ago while taking a writing workshop for my Master’s Degree, one of the students read a poem citing all the sins he felt God had committed against him, and the biggest was an unanswered prayer for help. As I sat listening to his raw yet carefully measured words, it occurred to me this man’s rejection was based on what he had been taught about God not what he had learned for himself. This young man, so deft and eloquent in his abandonment of who he thought was God, had never found relationship with Jesus because he kept following the rules of the Church and never read for himself Who God truly is. My heart was broken, but as a new Christian, I didn’t know how to reach out to him.

As I drove home from class that night, I wept in my car for this young man and wailed to God to help this young man find Him. “Let someone cross his path that could show him Who You really are!” were the last words of that heartbroken prayer.

Before I went to sleep that night, the Spirit gave me this:

——————————–

God Forbid

The more I understand
You, Lord,
The more I understand
I know very little.

God forbid
I stop knowing
Your power
and try to walk
this life
again
on my own;
I ever stop believing
all things work
together for good
for those who
know You,
and for everything
there is a season
and purpose
under heaven;
a mustard seed
of faith ever stops
being enough.

God forbid
You become
a religion to me,
something talked about
only to certain people,
and worshipped
only on Sunday;
I ever think of You
as a genie in a bottle
or put You in a box,
only to bring You
out when it is
convenient or desirable;
that I speak of You
as only a subject
of children’s stories
and songs,
equal in importance to
the Easter Bunny or Santa.

God forbid
I stop being
salt and light,
becoming hearer
and not doer;
I become hard pressed,
perplexed,
persecuted,
or struck down and
stop believing
my strength,
hope,
and future
are in You.

God forbid
I forget
who You are:
my King,
Lord,
Abba,
Provider,
Source,
Healer,
Redeemer,
Master,
Savior,
Center
of everything.

God forbid
Jesus starts caring
how many times
I make a mistake,
slam the door,
or walk away.

God forbid.

God forbid.

——————————-

I took this poem to writing workshop the next week. I have no idea how the young man received it. He wasn’t there. The class did have some good discussion about being the salt and light. Many of the students had never heard of such a thing and wondered where it was found in the Bible (Matthew 5:13-16).

If you are ready to give up on God, or maybe you already have, I implore you to give Jesus one more try. He is still there, waiting, no judgment, and with no list of corrections to be made before He will accept you. He loves you just as you are, and He wants you just the way you are.

Sometimes God isn’t Who we think He should be, Who we have been taught He is. To really know and understand Who God is, we must read the Bible, apply what it says, and pray. It really is as simple as that.

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