The Peace of Fully Trusting God

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”     John 16:33  NIV

    What kind of “things” was Jesus telling his disciples?  He was referring to everything he just shared with them around the table of their last supper and on their walk to the Garden of Gethsemane.  He told them about his love for them.  He told them about the Holy Spirit coming to them to be their comforter and guide.  He taught them how to live life connected to him.  He told them that they would be persecuted for believing in him. He told them about his death and the lasting joy they would find in his resurrection. 

    Jesus wrapped things up for his disciples by telling them that the key to having peace in this world is NOT getting rid of trouble.  That is simply NOT possible.  Peaces comes from placing our lives in the hands of Jesus, our loving Lord.  It come through putting our full trust in him. 

   This week, set aside some time in prayer to place all the different parts of your life in Jesus’ hands.  Try this method of prayer to help you give your life completely to Christ.

1.  Start with five minutes of praising Christ, as well as the Father and the Spirit for their love, faithfulness, wisdom, power  and whatever else makes them worthy of your trust.

2.  Spend the rest of your time in prayer by giving (a.k.a., surrendering) all parts of your life to God.  You can do this with this simple prayer:  “Father, I give you…”  (my  health, my marriage, my kids, my job, my finances, my future, etc.). Don’t just say these words as if they are a lucky charm.  Slowly and honestly identify every part of your life that comes to mind and give it completely to God.  Include specific details as they come to mind.   Affirm that you want your Heavenly Father’s will to be done in every area of your life just as his will is done in Heaven.

For even greater joy and peace, do this with your spouse or a friend.  In the process of giving all your concerns to God, you will discover God’s peace that passes understanding.

The Power of Singing!

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Psalm 95:1 NIV

It is hard to live with lasting joy in a world with so much pain and disappointment, yet we cannot find joy by trying to escape the pain and ignore the disappointment. We find joy when face the reality of this world honestly with the one who is called "The Man of Sorrows" and yet was so joy-filled that children loved him.

Circumstances will keep on changing, at times inflating our joy and at other times sucking it out of us. God will not change. Jesus showed us we can be honest about pain and disappointment and still be filled with joy by trusting completely in our Heavenly Father. We can find joy when we celebrate his faithful goodness and the hope he has promised us. 

There is a tremendous connection between singing and joy. Because singing engages our body, mind and emotions, it truly has the power to turn our frown upside down!

God calls us to worship so that we discover his greatness. God commands us to sing as part of our worship because singing about his worthiness helps us discover joy in him. God even gives us some extra help. He gave us the book of Psalms, which is a book of songs and poems for worship.

This week, set aside some time to worship God by singing his praise. Sing along with a worship CD. Don't be afraid. You can sing in your car or in a separate place in your home. If you are worried about singing alone, invite your family or friends to join you. If you don't have any CDs with worship music, try searching for worship songs on an internet source such as itunes, Youtube or Spotify. Search for Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche or Matt Redman and you will be off to a good start. And don't forget, it doesn't matter how well you sing. The verse above indicates that God is pleased even if all we can do is make a "joyful noise".

Discovering God's Faithfulness

“Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”                          Luke 1:45  NIV
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.                    Hebrews 10:23  NIV

    Faith is only as good as the object of its trust. If what or who we trust is not reliable, we will be disappointed. 

    Mary received the spectacular promise that she would give birth to the Son of God.  How in the world could she believe that?  It’s a crazy promise that no one could keep except God himself.  What made Mary’s faith possible was her knowledge of God.  She had learned in her young life that God is reliable, that he is trustworthy.

   One way we can strengthen our trust is by reviewing the promises God has kept throughout history and reviewing the ones he still makes to us today.  God made and kept promises to Noah, Abraham, David, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph and a host of other Bible people.  These kept promises empower us to trust God to keep the promises he has made to us.

   What are those promises?  Check out this short list.  There are many more.

       Forgiveness of sin and the Holy Spirit to help us – Acts 2:38-39

       Eternal life – Titus 1:1-2; 1 John 2:25

       Restoration of all things – 2 Peter 3:13; Acts 3:19-21

       God will always be with us – Hebrews 13:5-6

       God will be our Father and take care of us – 2 Corinthians 6:18; 
                                                                                       Philippians 4:19

       Peace – John 14:27; Philippians 4:6-7

   
This week, strengthen your trust in God by setting aside some quiet time to review and reflect on the examples and Scriptures listed above.  You can trust God to keep every promise he has made.

Find Joy in Contributing Instead of Consuming

“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  Luke 1:17  NIV

    Christmas is all about celebrating the contribution God has made by sending Immanuel into the world to be our Savior.  In a strange twist, we prepare to celebrate God’s generous contribution with the most busy consumer month of the year. Yes, we do give, but while we do, our culture continuously feeds our temptation to consume more than contribute. It becomes easy to slip into the temptation to evaluate our experience of the Christmas season by how much we get more than by how much we give in honor of the great gift of Christ.

   In sending Christ, God began redirecting the big ship of humanity from going with the tide of selfishness to riding the wave of the selfless gift of Christ.  Christ showed us that it is more blessed to give than to receive and , through his death and resurrection, he has made it possible for us to experience this blessing of sacrificial love.

   What about you?  How are you preparing to seek the Savior during the Advent season?  Are you seeking his joy through contributing or are you stuck in the cycle of trying to find happiness in consuming? 

   This week, take some time to prepare for the Christmas season by contributing the to the needs of others rather than consuming for yourself.   Ask God to show you a way to serve someone this week and then seize the opportunity when it comes.  It might mean making cookies or coffee for your trash collector or picking up a task at work that is the responsibility of someone else.  It might mean making extra soup to share with a neighbor or offering a ride to someone whose car is in the shop. Keep your eyes open and God will show you.  As you serve others, keep in mind how much Christ has served you.  

Finding Rest in God

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”        Jesus in Matthew 11:28  NIV

    Good rest refreshes us and reenergizes us.  In his book, Every Good Endeavor, Timothy Keller states,

       "Resting, or practicing Sabbath, is also a way to help us get perspective on our work and put it in its proper place. Often we can't see our work properly until we get some distance from it  and reimmerse ourselves in other activities.  Then we see that there is more to life than work.  With that perspective and rested bodies and minds, we return to do more and better work."

  Often We often make attempts at resting that are not at all refreshing or reenergizing.  The key to understanding this is the first three of Jesus’ words above, “Come to me”.   We discover the best rest when we come to Jesus.  Instead of plugging into TV or other electronic entertainment to escape from stress or feverishly pursuing a hobby that takes more energy from us, we can go to Jesus.

  Sometimes this may take the form of sitting or going for a walk by ourselves while we quietly acknowledge Jesus’ presence and  his sufficiency to refresh us.  Sometimes it may be a time of quietly meditating on Scripture or listening to Christian music.  Sometimes it may take the form of being with a group of friends with whom we can unload our burdens during a meal or through a time of encouragement and prayer with them.

    Whatever the case, if we want to find satisfying rest, we need to believe that Jesus is the best place to find it.  Hebrews 4:19 teaches us that it was a lack of trust that kept the people of Israel from finding the rest that God wanted to give them.  This week, set aside some time to come to Jesus for some refreshing and  reenergizing rest  by pursuing one of the pathways with him that is mentioned above.  If you need some Scripture for meditation, consider Psalm  23, Psalm 46 or  Psalm 36:5-9.

A Simple Gratitude Exercise

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.    Psalm 100:4  NIV

    Writing out God’s Word helps us store it up in our heart so that it filters into our everyday life.  Writing out our praise, thanks and requests is good for our mind and  our soul. This week’s SPA is designed for Thanksgiving Day, but you can do it anytime. 

     

Take an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper and fold it in half and in half again, so that it has four  sections, one in each corner.

1. In the top left section, write out Psalm 100. (It’s only five verses)

2. In the top right section, write down some sentences of praise to God. For example, “You are patient.”

3. In the bottom left section, write “God thank you for…” and then fill the box with people, things and circumstances for which you are  thankful.

4. In the bottom right section, Write out some requests you have for God.  They can be for you or for someone else.  As you write, completely give them to God and trust him to take care of them.

Save your paper and read it again sometime in the next few weeks.

Clarity for Life through Encounters with God

When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God.  Psalm 73:16-17 NIV

  
It’s easy to lose perspective in life.  One person lets us down and we start wondering if we can trust anyone.  We fail when we try something new and  then we are hesitant to try something new again.  A few things go wrong and we start expecting other things to go wrong.

What’s going on in your life right now?  Are you struggling with a negative attitude?  Do your problems feel overwhelming?  Do you feel like God is letting you down?  It could be that what you need most of all is a fresh perspective of the goodness, wisdom and power of God.   This week, enter into the sanctuary of God with the following simple activity.

     
     1.  Arrange to be alone in a quiet place for 20 minutes.

     2.  Slowly read Philippians 4:6-7 and Psalm 46:10-11.

     3.  Spend a few minutes telling God about what’s weighing you down.

     4.  Ask God to encourage you and spend the rest of the 20 minutes sitting silently in

          God’s presence.  Quietly praise God for being good, wise and strong. 

Posting again...

After quite a break, I am back to posting my weekly SPAs.  Through a moment of clarity with God, I have rediscovered that helping people to discover God's goodness and to live in his goodness is one of the main passions of my life.  My prayer is that each of these posts provides simple and practical help for people who want to "walk humbly with their God."  (Micah 6:8)