"Confirm. Defend. Grow."

            

     A daily prayer I offer for fellow believers and for myself is that our Heavenly Father will confirm, defend, and enhance our knowledge of Him and our understanding of His truth.

    First, we need ongoing confirmation and affirmation from the Lord that our experience of Him is genuine.  The Apostle Paul warned of "another Jesus... another spirit... another gospel" (II Corinthians 11:4).  Are we knowing the living and true God of the Bible?  Wherein we are, we require ongoing assurance that we are indeed adhering to that "faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3).  The Lord will lead us to His Word, His Spirit, and the fellowship of His children to confirm our walk in truth as we pray for each other accordingly.

    We also need defense of our beliefs about God and His truth.  In a world of devilish and fleshly influence, believers face ongoing challenge to "continue in the faith grounded and settled" (Colossians 1:23).  Satan and his minions seek to discourage our confidence in the Lord Jesus, pointing to our own lives and the lives of others wherein it is often difficult to know and understand what God is doing.  "Hath God said?"  The devil long ago prodded Eve with the temptation to uncertainty (Genesis 3:1).  He tempts us no less, and we do well to pray for the guarding of our trust and confidence in the Lord.

    Finally, we all need to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  None of us yet know anything as we ought to know, according to the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 8:2).  Moreover, the depths of an infinite God can never be fully plumbed.  Thus, we pray for each other that wherever we may be along the path of righteousness, the setting sun of this day will find us further down God's blessed way of love, truth, holiness and the wonder of the Lord Jesus.  Yes, confirmation, defense, and enhancement of our walk with the Lord is required.  As is corresponding prayer for each other, and for ourselves.

"Our Lord Jesus Christ... shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."
(I Corinthians 1:7-8)
"The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil."
(II Thessalonians 3:3)
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all judgment."
(Philippians 1:9)

Wanda

We'll call her Wanda.    

Wanda works at a local retail establishment we frequent.  She's recently served us on several occasions, always with a cool and bordering on unfriendly reserve as we begin our transactions.  My initial reaction is to be cool in response, but over the years I've learned that this is not the Lord's way in our lives.   

"I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:44-45).     

As born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are not given the option of relating to people as they relate to us.  We rather relate to them as God relates to us.  We seek to bestow the love, grace, and mercy we have received upon all, regardless of their attitude, demeanor, words and actions toward us.  I've remembered this truth both blessed and challenging when relating to Wanda, and the Lord has enabled me to be warm and friendly toward her despite her reserve.  Wonderfully, this has led on every occasion to Wanda opening up, smiling, and by the end of our transaction, we carry on as if we had known each other for years, as friends.   

This is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace.  During our times with Wanda, He has appeared on the scene, first in my heart and mind, and then in tangible display between Wanda and myself.  Indeed, left to myself, nothing would have happened of any worth and value, and more importantly, of any expression of the love of God.  Thankfully, our Lord does not leave us to ourselves, but rather intimately and dynamically involves Himself along the everyday pathways of life.  I wonder if perhaps Wanda has needs and difficulties in her life that causes her initial coolness when we encounter her.  Or  perhaps she is simply shy.  I don't know, but God does, and He graces me with the privilege and responsibility of giving to Wanda as I have received from Him.   

I have seen this happen so many times that while I am still tempted when I meet someone withdrawn and perhaps even surly, I'm learning to see the opportunity,God's opportunity, that presents itself in such episodes.  Again, we never know what's going on in people's lives.  But we do know the Lord who cares about them so dearly, and who sends us as His emissaries of love to needy hearts.  What a privilege, and what a blessing when we see a stern face soften, eyes look up and brighten, and a heart open to the relationship that happens when the Prince of peace graces us with the remembrance of how kind He has been to us, and of how kind He privileges us to be toward all.

"The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men." (II Timothy 2:24)

"From Me"

"This thing is from Me." (I Kings 12:24)                  

God cannot sin.  He cannot be tempted to sin.  Nor does He tempt anyone else to sin.          

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man" (James 1:13).     

Of all Biblical truths, none more demand our full belief and affirmation than than this doctrine of our Lord's unimpeachable and impeccable character.  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel22:30).  A shroud of thick spiritual and moral darkness envelops our hearts if we succumb in principle or in practice to the Satanic notion that God motivates or encourages wickedness or unrighteousness.  "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness" (Psalm 11:7).   

In the mystery of His eternal purposes in the Lord Jesus Christ, however, our Heavenly Father is wise enough, involved enough, powerful enough, and loving enough to weave wickedness He did not determine into His working in the lives of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).  The cross of our Savior shines forth with the brightest light in this matter.   

"Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23).    

Which was it?  God's "determinate counsel and foreknowledge?"  Or man's "wicked hands?"  The answer is both.  Full comprehension of such enigma is not possible for our finite minds.  We only know that our Heavenly Father foreordained the suffering redemption effected by His Son without forcing the wicked hands that pierced our Savior's innocent hands.  I refuse to waste time and mental energy in trying to figure this out.  However, I try to spend much consideration in realizing and embracing this wondrous truth that illuminates the trusting heart, namely, that God transforms the most wicked sin of history, the cross, into the most blessed reality - salvation - in the hearts of those who believe.  I then seek to apply the principle to everything in life.  Yes, if the worst thing became for us the best thing, then all other difficulties and challenges pale in comparison.   

"This thing is from Me."  By the time life gets to us, God has woven His ultimate purposes into the good, the bad, and the mundane.  As Joseph declared of his brothers' sin against him, "Ye thought evil against me.  But God meant it unto good" (Genesis 50:20).  Yes, our Father determines those things that conform to His perfectly righteous way.  He allows those things that conflict with His perfection in full confidence that He can coordinate all into His loving purposes.  I don't expect to understand how He does this, either in this life or the next.  I do, however, expect that each day will offer opportunity to remember and affirm the blessed truth of "This thing is from Me," either according to perfect determination, or coordinated allowance.   A God perfect in character and way must also be known as the God infinite in understanding and unthwartable in purpose.  "This thing is from Me" declares the Lord by His Word and His Spirit.  May the peace of such truth grace our hearts as the light of the cross illuminates every "This thing" in our lives.

"God... worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." (Ephesians 1:3; 11)