Author Archives

by

We Plan, God Prevails

Living in the landlocked heartland of the United States, I don’t often experience oceans. So during a visit to Mexico recently, I savored the sounds: the rolling waves of the North Atlantic lapping the shore, the calls of unfamiliar birds; the sights: sublime blues, greens and aquas; the sensations: warmth and dynamic, soothing sand underfoot.

There were kayaks and baby catamarans for us to journey a few hundred yards from shore. On each exertion, the swells of the waves lifted and rested, rocked and settled the small crafts. Had the winds been stronger and the waves more forceful, we would have been challenged to paddle or sail on course. But the days were merely breezy — it was on one of those afternoons while kayaking the gentle, stable swells, that a scripture came to mind:

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

Proverbs 19:21

The lesson was in the water — its power, its movement, its potential force. Assuming we desire God’s will for our lives, if need be, God will increase his power under our efforts to move us where we belong.

Sometimes we paddle, but foolishly. Sometimes we lack motivation and inspiration, and just sit there in our kayaks, not paddling at all. Our humanness makes us incapable of perfection, and many life decisions are burdensome. What if we error? We fear the consequences of poor paddling, poor decisions — “What if I choose the wrong friends, the wrong college or major, the wrong mate, the wrong job in the wrong city, the wrong school for my children, the wrong doctor or medical facility for a grave health issue, the wrong end-of-life care for a loved one … ?”

Fear not. God’s purpose will prevail. Life decisions which appear to us to be permanently consequential, are not so from God’s perspective. Regardless the direction we’ve paddled or drifted, our life stories are not over. If we genuinely desire God’s will for our lives, yet inadvertently paddle or drift in the wrong direction, he will rise like ocean waves to move and settle us onto his course.

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”

What a relief. The big and small decisions we must make in life, are not as burdensome as they often seem. If we sincerely and consistently aspire to be in God’s will, then, despite our misjudgments, apathy and errors, the LORD’S purpose will certainly prevail.

by

Trust Without Borders

“As for me, I shall call upon God, And the LORD will save me.”

Psalm 55:16 

***

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “whoever will call on the name of the LORD will be saved.” 

Romans 10:12

***

“I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Psalm 16:18

***

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.”

Psalm 18:16

 

“Oceans” by Hillsong United; You Tube video licensed by Hillsong United TV.

by

Peace and Hope

Romans 5 (NIV)

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies,we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

by

Man Versus God

I’ve been thinking about the Isaac and Ishmael story. Isaac’s creation and existence was in God’s time. Ishmael was by Sarah’s plan to obtain a son through Hagar.

Both were sons of Abraham, so you would expect them to have similar lives. But they didn’t. Isaac’s life was blessed and superior. Isaac had God’s endorsement, while Ishmael was man’s plan. Though Abraham pleaded with God to include Ishmael in God’s promise to Abraham’s descendants, and God agreed, it was a consolation promise. Isaac got to be on the inside with his father, while Ishmael ended up on the outside. Man’s plan could not usurp a plan of God.

Ishmael’s life was conceived by human agendas. We can do the same today. We can live leaving God out of the equation.

Isaac’s life was conceived by God’s will. We can do that today also. We can include God and commit to being fully cooperative with His will for our lives.

If we submit to God, what will He do with us? Will he force us to be subject to the whims and powers of life’s unfoldings, beaten down by life? No. If we are met with opposition, it is to gain from the experiences, not to be beaten by them. God aspires that we overcome evil with good, and ultimately move from wartime to peacetime. Trials serve to develop character and fortitude.

In contrast, if we are pressed to be a success according to human plans, like Ishmael, we will become a product of society’s values.

Can a person raised by man’s methods, mentored to rise in status among men, displace a person raised and mentored by God? No. Though they had the same father and similar environmental influences, Ishmael never rose to the position granted Isaac.

Some people look at the opportunities God has given to others and want those opportunities for themselves. They try to get there by human methods, and wonder why they fall short. The route to a God-appointed position is via God’s will. We must be willing to go God’s route; to be shaped by Him; to be raised by Him as if we were infants again. We must let God teach, mentor, evaluate, promote, and ultimately determine the course of our lives.

Opportunity has a ceiling when done by human effort. It can’t compare to the peak potential of a life in the hands of God.

God’s ways are not our ways. He aims His Isaacs toward enduring influence on humanity. He raises his Isaacs to have effectual, righteous character and integrity, through which societal thinking can be penetrated by God’s justice, mercy, and love.

An Isaac ends up esteemed by humanity. We all are beneficiaries of the Isaacs of this world — people shaped by God; not just another Ishmael shaped by man. An Isaac life postmortem is remembered by his infusion of the ways of God into the lives of others.

An Isaac can bridge social barriers that an Ishmael cannot. An Isaac earns the right to be heard. He cares nothing about society’s cast systems and attends to those God sends him to, regardless of their social status. Without bias, he informs people of their rights to truth, hope, and freedom.

Isaac was conceived and had life, because God created him.

Ishmael was conceived and had life, because man created him.

Which do you want?

It’s a simple as letting God or letting man, letting God or letting society, letting God or letting yourself have the “say-so” about you.

Man versus God. Let it be God.

by

Take The Limits Off

11 March 2015, by Dr. Eugene May

It is so wonderful to know that we can take the “LIMITS” off of how we view God. We must admit that most of us have placed “LIMITS” on what we believe about God and how He operates in the world. Those “LIMITS” were placed there by the teachings we received and by our personal experiences.

Early in my experiences with God I learned an important principle: God is never “LIMITED” by anything, except His Word. As I write this I am thinking about something said by the Psalmist, “…You have magnified Your WORD above all of Your name.” God would rather have His name defiled than to see one “WORD” that He has spoken fail.

Joshua, after taking the people of Israel into the “Promised Land,” was approaching the end of his life. He called the people together and said to them, “…you know in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one “WORD” of them has failed.”

Child of God, the same God that proved Himself over and over to the nation of Israel and to His church is the same God that wants to prove Himself to you. I challenge you today to put your full trust and confidence in the truth of His “WORD.” He is truly the “UNLIMITED” God, so make Him “UNLIMITED” in your thinking and in your “FAITH.”

“Your WORD is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path…Forever, O LORD, Your WORD is settled in heaven.”

With gratitude to Dr. May for permission to share his writing.

 

by

Wonderfully Made

A flower doesn’t think of competing with the flower next to it. 

It just blooms.

Psalm 139:

1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

by

It Is Well

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Credits: Musician – Chris Rice. Youtube licensee – Authentic Ctf

 

by

Mighty Fortress

“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” (German, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott) is one of the best known of Martin Luther’s hymns. Luther wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529. The words are a paraphrase of Psalm 46.

Psalm 46 (NIV) – For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
    God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Credits – Musician: Chris Rice

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mighty…

Youtube license: Scott Bacher

by

Wait Gain

Psalms 33:20

“Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield.”  

It is hard to wait. Especially when trouble comes instead of a promise. But this is frequently the way God fulfills his plan. Waiting and trouble is no accident — it is purposed.

Consider the events leading to the fulfillment of Samuel’s prophetic anointing of David, a lowly shepherd boy, to become king of Israel.

In 1 Samuel 16:18, a servant of the current king, Saul, recommended young David as a remedy for Saul’s “torment from an evil spirit”: “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the Lord is with him.”

David was summoned from the hillside pastures to play for the king, and as he did, the evil spirit left Saul. Pleased, Saul assigned David as one of his armor-bearers, and took him in as a beloved member of the royal household and family.

And so began David’s favored ascent to the throne.

Or so it must have appeared. Instead, due to his trust in God and his many successes, David fell from Saul’s favor. He ended up a fugitive, hunted prey of an increasingly jealous, malicious king.

Two words define this victimized period in David’s life: Waiting and Trouble.

David endured much of both. But without Waiting and Trouble, David would not have been prepared to reign as Israel’s king. He needed growth in authority, leadership, wisdom, and skills. Obstacles were in David’s path, and used by God, not to frustrate him, but to equip him; not to discourage him, but to protect him. Through Waiting and Trouble, he developed crucial qualities for success. He remained faithful. He didn’t bail from trusting, following, and obeying God when the going got tough.

David endured fifteen years of enemy opposition, consistently proving himself in battle, before he was proclaimed king of Judah. That positioned him to remove the remaining obstacles. Finally, more than twenty years after Samuel’s prophecy, it was fulfilled: David replaced Saul as king over all Israel.

Under David’s leadership, longstanding enemies of Israel were stripped of their power. What caused the collapse of enemy strongholds? What was it about David that caused his enemies to scatter?

David had waited for the appointed time. He had completed the training that accompanied Waiting and Trouble. He was fully equipped for success. He consistently pleased God — thus, the Lord was with David.

Many of the failures of people in the Bible were due to a failure to wait: Abraham gave in the Sarah’s suggestion that they have the promised seed through Hagar, her handmaid (Genesis 16:1-2). The Israelites, unwilling to wait forty days for Moses to return from the top of Mt. Sinai, made the golden calf (Exodus 32). Saul sinned by not waiting for Samuel to arrive (1 Samuel 13). Disciples were persistent in their hurry for the kingdom to arrive. The eleven apostles and others failed to wait and appointed Matthias as the replacement for Judas, when Jesus had instructed them to wait for “what the Father promised” (Acts 1:4).

Psalm 25:3

“No one who waits for God will ever be put to shame.”

The time eventually comes for fulfillment of prophecies. Obstacles and enemies disperse. Waiting and Trouble give way to Success and Reigning.

Wait on the Lord. Commit to gain from the wait. Acquire the equipping that accompanies Trouble. Be patient, stay faithful and consistently righteous. Your success depends on it.

Lamentations 3:24-26

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the Lord.

Musician and YouTube license credit: Justin Montefiore

by

The Last Will Be First

Matthew 20:16 – “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Does it matter if someone’s promises from God were fulfilled quickly, when others endured decades before their arrival? It’s not up to us to measure the fairness of that.

Isaiah 55:8 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

Should a person disqualify himself because he thinks he should earn seniority? Should he anticipate what God may do, by corporate standards? Should he reject an offer that others “earned” by being faithful longer?

That would be a huge shame, a tragic waste of an opportunity. He should take what God offers even if he has suffered little, waited less, or believed only briefly compared to others.

Those who endured much didn’t do so without gain. Those who remained hopeful of God through challenging circumstances, amassed patience, character, wisdom, insight and depth during the wait. Those who were spared suffering, or were the cause of their own hardships, will never understand all that a long-sufferer learned from injustice. Know that the faithful are not unrewarded. Let him reconcile his “unearned” blessings with that, if he must.

There is no reason to disqualify himself because he just came on board with what others were faithful to for years. He can and should jump into the opportunities God offers and allows him, even if he previously criticized or disbelieved it. It’s God’s offer. Who are we to view God’s ways through world-based lenses?

I pray we are given eyes to see God’s way. Without his view, we risk rejecting the abundant life he offers. What a waste that would be, a decision not without consequences. Imagine disqualifying ourselves from full potential, only to later realize the gravity of our error. Talk about regret.

So, let the last be first. And when he takes his position, let him demonstrate humility, gratitude, and respect to the faithful before him.

Proverbs, 22:4 – “The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.”