"Devising... Directed"

"Devising... Directed"

   

    What a joy that we do not have to make the decisions of life by ourselves!

    "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

      

    Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ rightly "devise," that is, we plan, prepare, and engage our mental faculties to decide the whats, whens, wheres, and hows of today and tomorrow.  However, we do so with confidence that our Heavenly Father directs our steps, working to confirm proper devisings and correct wayward plans that lead us astray.  As we prayerfully walk with God in His Word and in the fellowship of devoted Christians, our Father blesses us with confidence in His guidance and enabling power to fulfill His purposes in our lives.  Of course, we also recognize that in our present existence, we can miss the Lord's will and be misled down paths of error.  We nevertheless choose to believe that God promises and purposes to guide us as we devote ourselves to His glory and will.  "Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy steps" (Proverbs 3:5-6).

    Obviously, in a world full of devilish and fleshly influences, we recognize that God's leadership primarily involves teaching us to think well, that is, to think in terms of His Biblical truth.  We make well-informed decisions accordingly, using our spiritual and mental faculties in the confidence of the Holy Spirit's guidance, but also realizing we exercise our minds and wills as a vital part of the process.  This constitutes a far safer path than expecting guidance by impulses, notions, fleeces, and internal "voices" that are far more likely to originate in our enemies than the Great Friend and Guide of our hearts.  Indeed, the believer who well reads the Scriptures will well approach God in prayer, and then discover increasingly effective capacity for thought that leads to good decision-making.  Again, we will not be perfect in this lifetime regarding the Lord's guidance.  We can, however, grow in trusting our Heavenly Father and then using our understanding as a matter of faith in the God who "worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

"Oh send out Thy light and Thy truth.  Let them lead me."

(Psalm 43:3)

"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path… Order my steps in Thy Word."

(Psalm 119:105; 130)

Weekly Memory Verse

     "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

(I Corinthians 15:10)

    

   

"Confidence"

"Confidence"

   

    God calls believers to live with great confidence in Him, and also in our Christ-enabled capacity to function in a manner that fulfills His will, blesses others, and keeps our hearts in peace.

    "The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust" (Psalm 18:2).

    "I can do all things through Christ which strengthenth me" (Philippians 4:13).

    "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

    We live according to the strength of God rather than our own abilities.  "Be strong in the Lord and in power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10).  However, we do live, that is, we realize our privileged responsibility to actively engage our human faculties and capacities, believing them to be energized by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Note that Paul confessed, "I can do… through Christ."  The Apostle knew that salvation did not involve annihilation of himself, but rather newness of life in Christ and the actualization of his faculties and capacities.  Paul had "no confidence in the flesh" regarding the independent living of life by his own devices and determinations (Philippians 3:3).  He had much confidence in God, however, and in his God-created and enabled gifts as empowered by the Lord's active and involved presence.  Paul well knew the truth of his Lord's declaration to the disciples: "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).  However, Paul knew even more that he was not without the presence of his Lord: "Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20).  Thus, Paul knew and affirmed "I can."  He was confident in God, and in his relationship with God that makes possible the doing of "all things" that glorify God and genuinely benefit others and ourselves.

    I cannot.  I can… through Christ!  This perspective comprises the New Testament's revelation of a life lived that keeps us from deluded confidence in ourselves, but also prevents the passive paralysis that ensues if we fail to believe how mightily the Holy Spirit enables our humanity to function in terms of His indwelling presence of Divinity.  This is life, the life of God as revealed in the faculties and capacities of those who kneel before Him in faith, and who then arise to walk by Him in the confidence of His promised presence and enabling…

"But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

(I Corinthians 15:10)

Weekly Memory Verse

     "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

(I Corinthians 15:10)

    

   

"The Worst Thing, the Best Thing"

(We don't usually send out a message on Sundays, but on this day in which we especially focus on our Lord's resurrection, I thought I'd make an exception.  This is a repeat from 2012.  Thanks, Glen).

"The Worst Thing, the Best Thing"

   

    The worst thing that will ever happen to us has already occurred.

     "Christ died" (Romans 5:6).

     No worst case scenario we can imagine will ever compare with that horrific day when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died at the hands of the humanity He so loved.  We put to death the only perfectly innocent person who ever lived, after inflicting upon Him shame, rejection, forsakenness and a misery of soul and body no other will ever know.  It matters not that we weren't even born when the crime took place.  Our sins made necessary the cross, and we are all complicit in the worst and most unjust event of history.

     For believers in the Lord Jesus, however, the marvelous grace of God transforms the worst thing into the best thing.

     "God raised Him from the dead… If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Acts 13:30; Romans 10:9-10).

     Having atoned for our sins by His death, the Lord Jesus came forth from His tomb in a newness of life not only for Himself, but for all who trust in His redeeming work.  "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17).  The cross led to the empty tomb, which leads to our full hearts, as inhabited by the Holy Spirit when we believe.  Indeed, the worst thing made possible our becoming "the habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).  While we don't fully realize the enormity of such a gift at present, the day will come when a long eternity stretches forth in which we will forever exist as the very home of God.  In that day, we will better understand that the worst thing made possible our reception and experience of the best thing.

     In this holy light, all other challenges and difficulties fade in comparison.  Indeed, if God can birth the best thing - resurrection life - from the tomb of the worst thing - the death of the Innocent - then surely He can cause every other darkness to serve as the lamp of His light.  Regardless of the nature or the severity of the difficulty, the risen Christ will meet us as we look to Him in faith and expectation.  An empty tomb resounds through the ages to declare God's redeeming grace.  Yes, the worst thing became for believing hearts the best thing.  Little wonder that the Apostle Paul exultantly proclaimed of every darkness and difficulty…

"In all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us."

(Romans 8:37)

"You, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind through wicked works, hath He now reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight."

(Colossians 1:21-22)

"Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead."

(Colossians 2:12)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

(I John 3:16)