Tag Archives: Forgiveness

When God Meets our Deepest Needs

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Gift 3-2015

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Matthew 6:8

As a parent, you instinctively know what your children need, often times before they ask you. Do you give them what they need even if they haven’t asked and when they do ask, are you not happy to meet their needs because you love them immensely?

Suppose your child asks for something which you know is not the best choice for them. Would you give them what they asked for knowing it is not good for them or do you respond with compassion and unconditional love with saying, “No, not now.”

I believe we often overlook the similarities in the way we parent our children and the way that God is parenting us. God is, after all, our heavenly Father, conveying the authority, warmth, and intimacy of a loving father’s care. A father that knows what we need before we ask him. Compare how your children respond to you when they don’t get their way and how you respond to God when life is hard. I suppose we should give our children more grace when they are not content as God is being gracious to us as we learn to trust him with our needs.

In the gospel of Matthew 6, Jesus is instructing his disciples how to pray, telling them that the heavenly Father knows what they need before they pray. I’m called to trust that God sees what I see. In fact, he sees beyond what I see. Paul Miller writes in A Praying Life, “God sees the whole story and is completely trustworthy to be at work on a grand scale, in the minutia, and even in my own life.”

God knows what you need before you ask him.

Gift 3-2015-

40 Gifts of Lent | When God Meets Our Deepest Needs: Gift 3 | A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, Paul Miller

The Promise: A Continuous Experience of God’s Grace

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Gift 2-2015

God said, “When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I’ll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth.” Genesis 9:17 (The Message)

The book of Genesis proclaims that God created a perfect world, appointing every structure, force, and creature a place and task within the perfectly balanced order of the universe. [1] He created Adam and Eve to bear his image, to live in harmony with God and his creation without fear, pain, grief, anger, evil…sin. There was a time when sin was not an element in creation or the human experience. Sin arrived when Adam and Eve knowingly and willfully made the choice to act on the lie of the deceiver. In defiance, they rebelled against God’s good gifts and loving his word. What was once a beautiful and perfect creation is now defiled with total depravity and human corruption.

There is no treasure so wonderful as that continuous experience of God’s grace towards us. The colors shine through the storm and clouds of our sin as a reminder of God’s promise of forgiveness, love and grace. God preserves his creation in spite of man. God continues to redeem, in spite of our sin. [2]

Dear Lord, May the memory of our great sins, our many temptations, our falls, bring afresh into our minds the remembrance of your great help, of your support from heaven, of the great grace that saves. There is no treasure so wonderful as that continuous experience of your grace toward us. [3]

The Promise Gift 2-2015

40 Gifts of Lent | The Promise: A Continuous Experience of God’s Grace: Gift 2 [1] Far As the Curse is Found: The Covenant Story of Redemption, Michael D. Williams; page 63, The Fall  [2] page 95, The Flood | [3] Excerpt from: The Valley of Vision, page 71, The Dark Guest

Love to the Uttermost: The Unchanging God

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Gift 1-2015

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, when we have the privilege of fixing our gaze on the giver of life, our Redeemer, the one who has rescued us from ourselves. He came, God-incarnate, to save us to the extreme, as man to die our death. Herein is love to the utmost. For God so loved the world he gave. “Herein is love; when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace, to raise me to himself.” [1]

In a world of created changeable things, only God alone remains unshaken, unchanging. Only God alone remains true to his promise, for what he says, he will do. [2] He struck the head of evil. He has not left us here without grace. The cross still stands. The grave is still empty.

Gift 1-2015 Psalm 90

Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90

40 Gifts of Lent | Love to the Utmost: The Unchanging God: Gift 1 | [1] The Valley of Vision; page 16, The Gift of Gifts | [2] Numbers 23:19 | 

Snippets of Posts and Quotes: Take 1

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the-future-is-bright

The following are a few snippets of posts and quotes to ponder that I’ve saved from reading books and blogs. I use Evernote  to save information I collect from books, articles, blog posts and more. Evernote is like a digital file drawer. I wrote a post about being an “Evernote Junkie” and you can check it out here. I clicked through the notebooks in Evernote to select a few that I thought would be worth sharing as you move forward into 2014.  Scroll the cursor over the name of the author for a link to the blog or book.

CHRIST-LIKENESS:

“You will not stroll into Christ-likeness with your hands in your pockets, shoving the door open with a careless shoulder. This is no hobby for one’s leisure moments, taken up at intervals when we have nothing much to do, and put down and forgotten when our life grows full and interesting… It takes all one’s strength, and all one’s heart, and all one’s mind, and all one’s soul, given freely and recklessly and without restraint.”  A. J. Gossip

LIFE:

“Hard stops for prayer, rest so you can have the rest of God. Unplug to plug into your purpose. It’s the everyday, not the every now and then…We are all going to botch it somedays. We all sometimes get the notes wrong. But the song only goes wrong when we keep thinking back to the wrong notes…When a piece starts to fall apart — fall forward. Fall forward into the next bar. Moving forward is what makes music.“ Ann Voskamp

STRESS:

“Stress is the inappropriate response to a stimulus. Do our hearts provide a home for stress? You are no doubt completely aware of the concept of stress in your own life, but perhaps are not looking at its insinuative manner. What idols lie in waiting? I would propose that we sit down, often and for longer periods of time, and let Jesus shine a light in our hearts on the idols we harbor. His love, kindness, and desire for us to be whole will reveal what lies deep within and does not belong. He will haul these idols out and turn our affections toward him.” Greg Gelburd



 

LEADERSHIP:

“The kind of people who oppose things as a matter of course often don’t have an alternative vision…Opponents generally don’t possess a vision for the future, only a vision for the past which is an impossible vision…Leaders who attack people rather than problems are a very different breed. They can leave a trail of bodies in their wake..You will never look back with regret if you remain generous and kind to people who are not kind to you…When you listen to the loudest voices, you miss the most important voices…Decide whether you will focus on who you want to reach or who you want to keep.”  Carey Nieuwhof

FORGIVENESS AND HOLINESS:

“The grace of Jesus doesn’t just work to make you comfortable before God (forgiveness), it works to make you like him (holiness).”  Paul David Tripp

ASTONISHING:

“Never believe anything about yourself or God that makes His grace to you seem anything less than astonishing. Because that’s exactly what it is.”  Randy Alcorn

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY:

“That’s where I met Jesus, Daddy! Can we go to church again sometime so I can see Jesus again sometime?” Quinn, a three-year old

PEACE:

“Whatever disrupts our peace….unexpected news, heartbreak, daily interruptions, or even tragedy, His peace is available and it’s worth fighting for. We can walk through anything and He promises peace in His presence. Breathe in his presence, exhale peace.”  Godschick.net

SPECIAL NEEDS: 

“When the church attempts to function without all of its parts, the body of Christ becomes disabled.Same Lake, Different Boat is a transformational work–designed to renew our minds to think biblically about disability in order that our lives, our relationships, and our congregations might wholly reflect Christ.” Stephanie O. Hubach

PARENTING: 

“God is at work telling a story of restoration and redemption through your family. Never buy into the myth that you need to become the “right kind” of parent before God can use you in your children’s lives. Instead learn to cooperate with whatever God desires to do in your heart today so your children will have a front-row seat to the grace and goodness of God.” Reggie Joiner

WORSHIP:

“It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurism normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping — ascribing worth to — something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off…Trying to figure out God is like trying to catch a fish in the Pacific Ocean with an inch of dental floss…God does not regret saving you. There is no sin which you commit which is beyond the cross of Christ.”  Matt Chandler

GRACE:

“As 2014 progresses, open the eyes of our hearts to see all these glorious riches more clearly that we might enjoy them more fully (Ephesians.1:18-19). We rest and rejoice, in your covenant and capacity to keep us from falling. Though we may falter in the journey, the grasp of your grace is steady and secure.” Scotty Smith

 

Singing the Gospel: Lamb of God, We Fall Before Thee

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A glimmer of red against the backdrop of pure white

A glimmer of red against the backdrop of pure white

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

I Corinthians 1:30

Can you see a glimmer of red against the backdrop of white when you read the lyrics of this great hymn?  More Grace to daily live on Jesus’ merit.
“Lamb of God, We Fall Before Thee”
By Joseph Hart, 1759

Lamb of God, we fall before Thee,
Humbly trusting in Thy cross.
That alone be all our glory;
All things else are only dross.

Thee we own a perfect Savior,
Only source of all that’s good.
Every grace and every favor
Comes to us through Jesus’ blood.

Jesus gives us true repentance
By His Spirit sent from Heav’n;
Whispers this transporting sentence,
“Son, thy sins are all forgiv’n.”

Faith He grants us to believe it,
Grateful hearts His love to prize;
Want we wisdom? He must give it,
Hearing ears and seeing eyes.

Jesus gives us pure affections,
Wills to do what He requires,
Makes us follow His directions,
What He commands, He inspires.

All our prayers and all our praises,
Rightly offered in His Name—
He that dictates them is Jesus;
He that answers is the same.

When we live on Jesus’ merit,
Then we worship God aright,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Then we savingly unite.

Hear the whole conclusion of it;
Great of good, whate’er we call,
God, or King, or Priest, or Prophet,
Jesus Christ is All in All.

Rescued from Resentful Bitterness

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On my birthday, my Grandmother gave me a beautiful gold bracelet with a single charm displaying my initials, DMG. Back in the day of the 1970’s, a simple gold bracelet (no clasp, just a circle of gold)  with a single charm was the rage. Owning a bracelet like that gave status to the person wearing it, at least that was the perception. Only the most popular girls had a bracelet like this! I wasn’t popular. What is important to know is that I did not realize the significance of this bracelet. I never wore jewelry and didn’t ask for jewelry but my grandmother thought it was special for me to have it. The gold bracelet was an incredible gift and I loved it!

I felt so special and loved by my Grandmother each time I wore that bracelet, which was everyday.  Since I wasn’t popular and didn’t care about style (unless my Grandmother coached me) I had no idea that this bracelet would be a source of discontent for someone else. One day, while in the locker room getting ready for gym class, I carelessly turned my back to the belongings in my locker basket. I had taken off the bracelet and placed it inside the basket. When I turned around, the bracelet was gone. The thief was fast and disappeared quickly…but I knew who she was. I reported the crime to the school authorities, but since they couldn’t prove that my bracelet was stolen and not lost (the thief denied the crime) I was out of luck. Even more frustrating was to see her walking down the hall wearing my bracelet with my initials on the charm.

I was seething with resent and bitterness. I chewed on it. I began to savor the sour bitter taste. I choked on that bitter flavor but managed to swallow and digest this feeling with hope that I would take vengeance on that thief.  But the resentful bitterness ended up taking its vengeance in my soul instead. I was miserable and consumed with hate towards that girl.

The heart knows its own bitterness…Proverbs 14:10

A bitter and resentful person is like a contagious poison, spreading his resentment to others. 
(A paraphrase of Deuteronomy 29:18)

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.   Ephesians 4:30-32

The bracelet had become a golden idol while that thief was becoming more of a false god, vying for my attention. The only way I could be free from this angst was to surrender my bracelet…that golden idol to God. It was His. It was always His. I gave the bracelet to God numerous times and the more I gave it back, the softer my heart became towards the thief.  I began to pray for her each time I saw her at school and each time I missed the gold bracelet until I didn’t feel the resentful bitterness anymore. I actually had the strange kind of love and compassion for her. God was healing my heart and rescuing me from resentful bitterness and then–God showed me love. My grandmother gave me another gold bracelet, identical to the one now owned by a thief…that girl…needing to feel loved, needing to be rescued.
Years later, I continue to pray for that girl and hope she knows that God loves her and perhaps she has been rescued too. When my daughter was in college, I gave her my treasured bracelet and shared this story with her in hopes that it would be a reminder of God’s rescuing power in her life.  She wears it all the time!
the simple gold bracelet