Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Life Verse

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

I first heard about the concept of a life verse around a year and a half ago. When I heard of it, I began looking for favorite verses from the Bible which has special meaning to me.

The passages above hold a special meaning for me. Not only did those verses save my life, but they are a source of comfort in the frequent wilderness experiences I have had recently.

In those verses are promises. Promises that, for me, adresses all my needs.

The promise of Provision("… prosper you..") - God is Jehovah-Jireh, the God-Who provides. He always provides, adequately when the time comes. I used to struggle with this: will God only provide what I need, or will He also provide my wants?

I have observed parents who, trying to maximize value, will tend to buy cheap things for their kids. Yet the same parents would also from time to time buy something beyond their budget. That is also true for me. There are times when I take the least expensive route but from time to time I splurge. In both instances, one thing holds true: my spending is not dependent on how good or bad the recepient is, but is dependent on how much I want to bless the person.

From this point of view, would God also provide my wants? Definitely!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

The Door of Full Surrender

TGIF DEVOTIONAL
The Door of Full Surrender

But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. - Job 23:10
I was recently sitting with the leader of a workplace organization as he described a question he poses to workplace believers. "What if there were two doors to choose from; behind one door was the complete will of God for your life and behind the other door was how life could be according to your own preference. Which door would you choose?" The struggle for most lies in the desire to follow God completely and the fear of what might be behind the door of full surrender. Most of us desire to follow God, but few of us will do it at any cost. We do not really believe that God loves us to the degree that we are willing to give Him complete permission to do as He wills in us.

If we desire to fully walk with Christ, there is a cost. We may give intellectual assent and go along with His principles and do fine; however, if we are fully given over to Him and His will for our life, it will be a life that will have adversity. The Bible is clear that humans do not achieve greatness without having their sinful will broken. This process is designed to create a nature change in each of us, not just a habit change. The Bible calls it circumcision. Circumcision is painful, bloody, and personal.

If God has plans to greatly use you in the lives of others, you can expect your trials to be even greater than those of others. Why? Because, like Joseph who went through greater trials than most patriarchs, your calling may have such responsibility that God cannot afford to entrust it to you without ensuring your complete faithfulness to the call. He has much invested in you on behalf of others. He may want to speak through your life to a greater degree than through another. The events of your life would become the frame for the message He wants to speak through you.

Do not fear the path that God may lead you on. Embrace it. For God may bring you down a path in your life to ensure the reward of your inheritance. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17)