Embrace the Within no. 199

“For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11 CSB).

God is good all the time. He has a plan even when I don’t. He has a path through when I am doubting. He has it all figured out while I am grasping at understanding. And when I fail to recognize just how good He is, that is when I find myself struggling. Faith is an action. Hope is my confidence. Courage is choosing to change.

Paul continues in this epistle to question how pointless it is for Christians to doubt His goodness when he asks, “What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword” (Romans 8:31-35)? Too often I get overwhelmed by a situation. And I think sometimes that God has more important things with which to concern himself. I don’t want to burden God with my feeble and insignificant problems. And then I remember that He cares enough to sacrifice Himself in order to justify and reconcile me. He made me in His image for a purpose. And He wants to spend time with me. He wants a relationship with me. The force behind everything, the reason for everything, the Word and the Truth, the person in charge just wants a relationship with me. And I don’t know about you BUT that is something I will probably never be able to comprehend.

The idea that God cares enough that when I was open rebellion against Him, He still sacrificed to save me. And He wants nothing in return except a relationship with Him. And I don’t want to bring Him my concerns because that would bother God? How simple I am at times. If I was a burden to Him, then why would He give so much and ask so little in return? I need to recognize that there is nothing that I accomplish on my own. I get to boast about what He has helped me to accomplish. He has given me the opportunity to reconcile and the opportunity to be an Ambassador of His Kingdom. And through Him, “ . . . all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 CSB).

I pray that I stop acting like I am a burden to God. I pray that I take the time to fully enjoy the opportunity to bring my concerns to Him. I pray that in sharing who I am with God in prayer and action that my relationship with Him will grow deeper and stronger. I pray that there is nothing that I find to be too insignificant to bring to Him because there is nothing I can do without Him.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 198

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” (Matthew 5:3 CSB).

Poor in spirit does not mean we have a spirit that is lacking in anything BUT arrogance. No one really explained that to me when I was growing up and that makes a lot of difference in reading this opening passage to the Sermon on the Mount. I mean how can someone be spiritually prosperous or blessed if their spirit is somehow lacking or impoverished? This opening line links back to this line in Isaiah, “For the high and exalted One He who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy says this, ‘I dwell on the high and holy place, But also with the contrite and humble in spirit In order to revive the spirit of the humble And to revive the heart of the contrite [overcome with sorrow for sin]’” (Isaiah 57:15 AMP). My sorrow over my sin makes my heart and spirit poor and contrite. I have to really feel bad about sinning. And not just from the starting point of being sorry that my sin is going to cause me eternal harm. I have to be sorry that my sin is messing up my relationship with Him. Being sorry means that I am going to do something to try and fix the problem.

People talk all the time about being sorry and then they continue to do the same wrong things. And that isn’t sorrow. That isn’t repentance. And that isn’t changing. That is not going to get my relationship with God into a better place so that He can revive my heart. A lot of the time the problem with my walk with the Lord is my heart. I let my heart and my feelings and what I want and how I want things to get in the way of my relationships with not only others BUT with Him as well.

And that makes it difficult for me to love and truly difficult to be loved. And here it is right at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. I need to have a spirit of service. I need to have a spirit that wants to be reconciled. I need to have a spirit that wants to be better. Not just a spirit that is sorry.

God promises to comfort me if I have a spirit of reconciliation. Again, in Isaiah God promises, “'For all these things My hand has made, So all these things came into being [by and for Me],’ declares the Lord . ‘But to this one I will look [graciously], To him who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who [reverently] trembles at My word and honors My commands’” (Isaiah 66:2 AMP). He will look graciously on those with contrite spirit that tremble at His word and honor His commands. So, here is the spirit of reconciliation shown as someone that respects the authority of God and trembles with the humility and reverence that God deserves and follows obediently His commands.

And Jesus lays out simply the commands later on, “He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands’” (Matthew 22:37-40 CSB). And how do I do those things? Well, again Jesus lays that out in simple terms, “'Then he said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it’” (Luke 9:23-24 CSB).

I pray that I have a contrite spirit today that trembles in obedience. I pray that my spirit seeks to reconcile my sorrow in obedience. I pray that my actions show a spirit that is seeking reconciliation and relationship with Him. I pray that through this spirit I can show my love to God and others and that this spirit transforms me into someone that can be more easily loved as well.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH