Tag: Sin

Another Trial?

Posted on by Dorci

Seems I’ve talked to quite a few people lately who are going through especially difficult times. From my own personal perspective and after hearing the stories of my friends, the trials seems to be ramping up lately. My gut feeling is that the Lord’s working extra diligently to purify our hearts, to purge them of long-held sinful attitudes, of relying on anyone or anything else but Him, and to strengthen our faith in Him and Him alone. And of course the enemy is not too happy about that, but he’s going to use those trials, too, to try pulling us in the opposite direction.

Resist. 

I was recently dealing with a new health issue, and while some days I was handling it fine, there were others when it all was getting just too overwhelming.

One trial – okay; two – alrighty then; three – hmmm, what’s going on?; four – Lord, where are you?!  I get it. Believe me, I get it. And of course I pray, of course I turn to God’s Word and wait for Him to speak to my heart through it, but there are also times I turn to a favorite devotional – Streams in the Desert. 

Since there are so many facing some very difficult and painful trials, I wanted to share with you today’s Streams in the Desert devotional. The Lord blessed me as I read it, and helped me see my trials from His perspective, to remember that my trials are for my spiritual growth and for His glory. What could be better than that? 

 

Streams in the Desert – August 29

 

And he went out carrying his own cross (John 19:17).

There is a poem called “The Changed Cross.” It represents a weary one who thought that her cross was surely heavier than those of others whom she saw about her, and she wished that she might choose another instead of her own. She slept, and in her dream she was led to a place where many crosses lay, crosses of different shapes and sizes. There was a little one most beauteous to behold, set in jewels and gold. “Ah, this I can wear with comfort,” she said. So she took it up, but her weak form shook beneath it. The jewels and the gold were beautiful, but they were far too heavy for her.

Next she saw a lovely cross with fair flowers entwined around its sculptured form. Surely that was the one for her. She lifted it, but beneath the flowers were piercing thorns which tore her flesh.

At last, as she went on, she came to a plain cross, without jewels, without carvings, with only a few words of love inscribed upon it. This she took up and it proved the best of all, the easiest to be borne. And as she looked upon it, bathed in the radiance that fell from Heaven, she recognized her own old cross. She had found it again, and it was the best of all and lightest for her.

God knows best what cross we need to bear. We do not know how heavy other people’s crosses are. We envy someone who is rich; his is a golden cross set with jewels, but we do not know how heavy it is. Here is another whose life seems very lovely. She bears a cross twined with flowers. If we could try all the other crosses that we think lighter than our own, we would at last find that not one of them suited us so well as our own.
–Glimpses through Life’s Windows

If thou, impatient, dost let slip thy cross,
Thou wilt not find it in this world again;
Nor in another: here and here alone
Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.
In other worlds we may more perfectly
Love Him and serve Him, praise Him,
Grow nearer and nearer to Him with delight.
But then we shall not any more
Be called to suffer, which is our appointment here.
Canst thou not suffer, then, one hour or two?
If He should call thee from thy cross today,
Saying: “It is finished-that hard cross of thine
From which thou prayest for deliverance,
“Thinkest thou not some passion of regret
Would overcome thee? Thou would’st say,
“So soon? Let me go back and suffer yet awhile
More patiently. I have not yet praised God.”
Whensoe’er it comes, that summons that we look for,
It will seem soon, too soon. Let us take heed in time
That God may now be glorified in us.
–Ugo Bassi’s Sermon in a Hospital

 

2022 National Day of Prayer

Posted on by Dorci

“Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted 
and now being built up in Him
and established in your faith, just as you were instructed,
and overflowing with gratitude.”
Colossians 2:6-7 NASB


Thursday, May 5 is this year’s National Day of Prayer, and boy do we need it. The date has come in the middle of this nation’s war, quite literally, between life and death. 

The theme given for this year is ‘Exalt the Lord, who has established us,’ which is based on Colossians 2:6-7. 

The Hebrew word for exalt, when exalting the LORD, means “to be high actively, to rise or raise, to lift up. 

In our dictionary exalt means to raise in rank, honor, power, character, quality, to elevate. 

To praise. 

It is to see God and acknowledge Him for who He is: the Righteous One who judges all and through Christ shows mercy. To humble ourselves before Him, elevating Him in our hearts, minds and souls, praising Him as the King of kings and Lord of lords, seeking Him to do His will on earth as it is in heaven, to do in His strength what we can never do alone. 

Let’s lift our voices together, coming to the throne room of God to praise Him and to seek His mercy. 

Heavenly Father, the Holy and Exalted One, the One worthy to be praised and glorified forever and ever, our Creator, our Giver of Life, and Redeemer, we lift you up as our Lord and King. 

We humbly come before you on behalf of this nation that has been ravaged by the evil one and has turned away from you and your truth and believed lies. 

Father, we ask for the merciful pouring out of your Holy Spirit to give people eyes to see and ears to hear the truth, to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior, the one who bore all our sins on the cross that we might be forgiven of all our sins and have life with you now and forever. 

We pray you would pull the spiritually lost and blinded back from the brink of hell. 

Father, we pray, though, that those who have yet to know you, who are believing and proclaiming and fighting for lies, would see your love in us.

Help us remember that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12)

Though we are angry at the sin because it destroys the sinner, may we be your lights, shining your love and grace and mercy to all those whose hearts will receive you. 

May you grant repentance, LORD, and freedom for the captives. 

We are humbled and blessed beyond comprehension that you know us, and have opened our eyes and hearts to know you. Thank you for revealing yourself to us in the pages of your Word. May our love for you and our faith in you grow more passionate every day.  We pray in the precious name of Yeshuah Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, the One who was, Who is, and is to come. Amen.

 

“Come!”

Posted on by Dorci

“And because lawlessness will abound,
the love of many will grow cold.”
~Jesus
Matthew 24:12

I’ve been thinking about these words a lot lately. It’s easy to read them and assume that it’s the people who practice lawlessness whose love will grow cold, and that’s certainly true. 

But in my own heart I’ve seen how easy it is to simply sit and watch or read about the wickedness going on around us and become angry. Yes, we should have a degree of righteous anger, but if we’re not careful, that righteous anger can turn into self-righteousness, judgment, bitterness, and with them the loss of grace, mercy, faith, and love. 

We can get our eyes onto other’s sins and off our own, and forget how much we need forgiveness ourselves. Over time, a lack of repentance and the guilt that sets in can keep us from sitting in the presence of the Lord, the Source of the love we so desperately need.  

And slowly, replacing a tender heart of love, anger begins to fester, and the enemy slowly leads us away, not from salvation, but from fellowship with our gracious Heavenly Father. 

“You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”
1 Thessalonians 5:5-8

Let’s be alert, filled with the Holy Spirit, resisting the enemy, abiding in the love of Christ, the One who is able to rescue us from ourselves, and remember the hope Jesus gives in the next breath after His words we started with at the beginning:

“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”  Matthew 24:13

That word “endures” means “to stay under or behind, remain, to undergo, bear trials, have fortitude, persevere, abide, patiently suffer…”

Yes, we’re living in hard times, but remember, the things of this life are not the goal, this life is not the end, it is the beginning. It is the training ground for the life to come; it is where we cling to Christ, and even more through those very hardships, receiving His character for ourselves, growing into spiritual maturity, prepared for what He has for us in the next. 

So let us “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Ephesians 5:1-2

If followers of Christ should be characterized by anything, it should be by His love. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

So what should our response be to the violence, the hatred, the blatant disregard for life we see around us? Yes, be angry at the sin, yes, be angry at the enemy and the war he’s declared on Almighty God, and then let’s emulate our Lord and Savior who was filled with love and prayed from the cross that His Father would forgive those who put Him there. 

We, too, can let the love God’s given us through the filling of the Holy Spirit lead us to pray for those who are caught in the sin. We can ask our gracious and merciful Heavenly Father to grant them repentance and salvation, pulling them back from the pit of hell, just like He did for us. 

So, if you’ve drifted away from the Lord or you deliberately walked away for whatever reason, and your love has grown cold, or maybe your faith is there but it’s lukewarm, which Christ said was even worse than being cold (because it’s so deceiving), or maybe you’ve never given your life to Christ and you know there is something missing, something you desperately need and have been looking for but haven’t yet found, today is the day.

Christ is ready, willing, and able to forgive you and receive you and fill you with His love, a love that is able to go far above and beyond all other loves, a love that will quench our thirsty souls, renew hearts and minds, and heal us more than we can imagine, and this is what He says to you:

“The Spirit and the bride (followers of Christ) say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”  Revelation 22:17

“Come!”

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Love

Posted on by Dorci

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. Thank you for the gift of love, of yourself. You are too grand for us to fully comprehend, to understand your existence and your eternal nature, but we are forever thankful that you created us and through the sacrifice of your Son, by faith, brought us into relationship with you to receive your love, and through the filling of your Holy Spirit, experience its depth, and be given the ability to love you and love others. 

Father we ask for forgiveness for the times we’ve failed to love. They are too numerous for us to name, but we ask that you would heal the hearts of those we’ve caused pain, and we thank you for softening our own hearts and granting us repentance and new mercies to begin again.

Hold onto us, Lord, and give us willing hearts to obey you. Keep us from even the temptation to sin, knowing that allowing sin would begin to harden our hearts and break the precious communion we have with you. And when we do sin, help us to quickly repent, so we can abide in your love again. 

May we be quick to take the love you give us and your example and love others, our brothers and sisters in the faith, and those who have yet to come to you, and to love our enemies, remembering that

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

This is how you love, Lord, and this is how we want to love, too.  Help us understand more and more the scope of it so we can love others in a way that glorifies you. 

In Jesus’ holy and precious name we pray, amen. 

* * *

If you have any prayer requests please let me know!

 

The Saturday Song – Lift Your Head Weary Sinner (Chains)

Posted on by Dorci

Happy Saturday, friends. You know, for the most part I feel called to encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ, but every once in a while the Lord will put me in the path of an unbeliever, and that’s where I want to be today. 

In the path of those who have no idea what this Jesus thing is all about, and the path of those who once thought they knew, but they’ve been away for a hundred million different reasons. 

I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that God loves you more than you can ever know. Yes, He does. You might not feel it right now, but sometimes feelings lie. 

You might have been hurt and blame God. I understand.

You might have done something terrible and don’t think He could ever forgive you. I understand. 

You might be afraid to trust Him again. I understand. 

I’ve been there, done all that, bought the t-shirt and worn it until I didn’t think I could wear it anymore.

But the power of the blood of His Son paid for all of it. 

And thirty years down the road I also understand that if you let Him, God will heal your heart; that He not only can forgive you, He is waiting to forgive you; and that no matter what the future holds, He will be right beside you, hurting with you when you hurt, but through it He will give you His peace and strength to forgive, to heal, to grow in grace and love, into very the image of His own beautiful Son. 

And just like the story Jesus told the people who had gathered around him: “while {the prodigal son} was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him,” (Luke 15:20) so the Heavenly Father waits for you to take but a step toward Him, asking for forgiveness, and He will run to you with such compassion and all the love you ever wanted, throw His arms around you, and welcome you home. 

Today’s song is dedicated to you.

Father, let the chains fall…

 

 

Lift Your Head Weary Sinner (Chains)
David Crowder

Lift your head weary sinner, the river’s just ahead
Down the path of forgiveness, salvation’s waiting there
You built a mighty fortress 10,000 burdens high
Love is here to lift you up, here to lift you high
 
If you’re lost and wandering
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory open wide
 
All who’ve strayed and walked away, unspeakable things you’ve done
Fix your eyes on the mountain, let the past be dead and gone
Come all saints and sinners, you can’t outrun God
Whatever you’ve done can’t overcome the power of the blood
 
If you’re lost and wandering
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory open wide
 
If you’re lost and wrecked again
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory be open wide
 
Let the chains fall…
Let the chains chains chains chains chains chains…
 
If you’re lost and wandering
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory open wide
 
If you’re lost and wrecked again
Come stumbling in like a prodigal child
See the walls start crumbling
Let the gates of glory be open wide
Let the gates of glory be open wide
Let the gates of glory be open wide

 

The Believer’s Speech

Posted on by Dorci

My son was at the store the other day standing in an aisle searching for what he needed when he overhead a couple of employees near him deep into a very colorful conversation deriding this group and that one. Their conversation disturbed him so much that he found another employee to let her know what was going on, and then he called me. 

Of course it was disheartening to hear that that kind of divisive and hateful talk was going on, let alone by two employees who are supposed to be working, and that some of the hateful comments were directed toward Israel. 

But it shouldn’t be surprising. 

1 John 3:13 tells us

“Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.” 

The world doesn’t only hate believers, though. It just hates. And the hate seems to be revving up. Or at least people seem to feel more free to speak their hatred out loud, joining in the chorus. 

Hate seems to be the speech of the day. 

But it should never be our speech. 

The speech of believers ought to be prayer. 

Jesus said

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:43-44

As I talked to my son, empathizing with him, that yes, this was a terrible thing that people were talking this way, and even worse that it was in their own place of business for any customer to hear, the Lord put on my heart to tell him that maybe God put him in that aisle, at that moment in time, so that he could hear their hateful words and pray for them. 

Is there anyone who needs prayer more that someone whose heart is filled with hatred? Is there anyone who needs the redeeming grace of God more? 

I told him God’s given him an opportunity to pray for these men. Maybe, just maybe, God wants to save them and give the world two more souls who love instead of hate.

Praying for them also protects our hearts from unforgiveness and bitterness.

I hear a lot of believers talking about the terrible sins going on in the world, but how we talk about it much of the time is no different than the world. I hear speech that is hateful, mocking, divisive. 

Friends, that is not God’s way. Yes, it’s our natural instinct and gut reaction to the sin we see, but being in Christ we should hate the sin because we know that the people caught in it are people loved by God and made in His image, and are being swallowed up by it. That should grieve us just as it grieves the Lord. 

But if we act like the world instead, how do we expect it to see the love of Christ and know there’s a better way? How do we expect to be walking, breathing testimonies of His love and grace? How can we hate in one breath and in the next talk about God’s love? 

As we let God’s love mature in our hearts, we’ll see with His eyes of mercy, our speech will always be gracious, seasoned with salt, and we’ll understand the privilege and responsibility we have to pray for the lost souls God puts in our way. After all, we were all lost once. 

The world has enough hate. It needs our love and it needs our prayers. 

 

Father, forgive me for the times my speech has not been glorifying to you or edifying to those around me. Set a guard over my tongue, and give me eyes that see with your grace, that I might pray and do your will.  In Jesus’ name I pray, amen. 

Saturday Song – Holy Water

Posted on by Dorci

I was driving down the road minding my own business when a song I’d never heard before came on the radio.  It grabbed my soul by the shoulders, shook it and said “get your eyes off the world, off yourself, and back onto the gracious, refreshing, life-giving, life-renewing Living Water of Jesus Christ.” Maybe it’ll do the same for you.  God bless you today and always.

 

 

Holy Water
by We The Kingdom

God, I’m on my knees again
God, I’m beginning please again
I need you
Oh, I need you


Walking down these desert roads
Water for my thirsty soul
I need you
Oh, I need you


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
Like Holy water on my skin


Dead man walking, slave to sin
I wanna know being born again
I need you
Oh, God, I need you


So, take me to the riverside
Take me under, baptize
I need you
Oh, God I need you


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
Like holy water on my skin
(On my skin, on my…)


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


I don’t wanna abuse your grace
God, I need it every day
It’s the only thing that ever really
Makes me wanna change


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips (Yes, it is)
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
It’s like holy water…


Your forgiveness
Is like sweet, sweet honey
On my lips
Like the sound of a symphony
To my ears
It’s like holy water on my skin
It’s like holy water on my skin
It’s like holy water.

How One Degree Equals a Million Miles

Posted on by Dorci

You get on a plane bound for Paris.  Your future spouse is waiting, along with your wedding party, your officiant, and all your guests.  You fly for what feels like forever and finally land, only to find out you’re in Belgium instead. 

Now, Belgium is nice, but it’s not Paris, and it’s not what you planned.  The pilot profusely apologizes when he realizes he’d set his course one degree off.  One degree?  How could one degree cause such a mess?

God told Adam “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  Genesis 2:16-17

Enter the serpent. The master of “It’s only one degree…”

He says to Eve,“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'”  Genesis 3:1

Already he’s begun planting doubt and confusion in her mind. “Wait, did God say that…?” And she replies,“We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden(so far so good), and you must not touch it, or you will die.”

Uh oh.  One degree off.

The serpent retorts,“You will not certainly die. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Funny how satan always makes it seem like we’re missing out on something when in reality he is enslaving us.

Of course we know the rest of the story.  Eve goes one degree off by adding something God did not say (“you must not touch it”) and she’s suddenly off course.  Then, as she’s off the path God plotted for her, her pride takes her another degree by doubting God’s motive, and then another by coveting, and she walks over to the tree, plucks the juicy fruit, and takes a bite.

She hands it to her husband, he shrugs his shoulders (conveniently forgetting what God had told him), and he takes a bite, too.

And suddenly sin enters the world.  And the story continues to this very day, and the world is a million miles off from what God desired.

Yes, we have Christ and the cross, and anyone who puts their faith in Him is forgiven of all their sin. Jesus Christ has defeated the enemy and through Him we have victory over sin and death.

Still, the battle is not over.  The war of degrees continues, and we are warned “Be alert and of sober mind.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

Jesus may have won our souls, but satan’s looking to swallow our lives, our service to the Lord, and our witness to the world. And he does it one degree at a time.

“Did God really say…not to eat that, not to drink that, not to watch that, not to read that, not to smoke that, not to go there, not to do that? Everybody else is doing it. Your friend is doing it and see what a great person he is?  Your Christian friend posted it and it sounds inspirational. Yeah, that’s not what the Bible says, but it’s the 21st century. Your pastor is reading it. It’s a Christian book, right?  So what about the parts that aren’t exactly scriptural. It doesn’t matter.”  

One degree. And then another, and another.

Just a meme. Just a book. Just a movie. Just a piece of fruit.

Discernment gets walked out of the cabin and relegated to the backseat. We base beliefs on who is saying it, rather than on what is said. On its popularity, rather than God’s Word. On our political affiliation, rather than our position in Jesus Christ.

We adopt beliefs because they sound good, and though they may be part truth, they may also be part untruth – just one degree off – and we adopt the belief, mixing it with some truth, and then other untruths we are bombarded with from the world are built on that, decisions are made based on those unscriptural beliefs, and soon we look back and around, and we’re lost. We’re far from God, and the lion is crouching in the bushes, stealing God’s plans and replacing them with needless pain and suffering.

Maybe the question we all need to ask ourselves is – who is my pilot?  Me or God? My feelings or God? The world or God?

He will never lead us off course. Yet when we find ourselves off the path, with Him, through Christ, there is an abundance of mercy and forgiveness. We are always one prayer of repentance away from being whisked back to God’s side, walking with the Spirit again.

There may be consequences of our sin, though, which is why God lovingly warns us to always be alert and of sober mind. Let us “resist {the devil}, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”  1 Peter 5:9

We’re all in the same boat, or plane, in keeping with my original analogy. We need each other’s prayers and encouragement and strength as we walk this walk, and we can only do that as long as we’re walking next to our Lord, and not off eating fruit that’s bad for us.

God’s given us an entire garden of life-giving fruit. Let us revel in His provision, stay on course, walk with Him and do His will, and remember that one day we will see “Paris” – the great place of the marriage of the Lamb and His Bride.

“Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and be glad
and give Him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)”
Revelation 19:6-8

 

Yes, There Are Injustices in This Life, But…

Posted on by Dorci

I like court shows.  And Datelines and 20/20s and documentaries where the guilty person is finally proven guilty and pays for their crimes, or where an innocent person who was wrongly convicted finally goes free.

I love justice and truth.  But the more shows I watch the more I see that justice is not always served in this lifetime.

There is one court show I occasionally watch where there are three judges who hear each case.  So many times they don’t all agree.  Two will come to the same conclusion, but one will dissent from the others. How can that happen? They all heard the same case, they’re all sworn to deliver justice, but somehow, someway, they come to different conclusions.  Was justice actually served?  Was the verdict correct because the majority agreed, or did the one lone holdout have the correct verdict? Three judges, two conclusions.

Or, a whole jury hears the same trial, convicts, and then later the conviction is proven wrong and overturned.

Makes you wonder how many innocent people have been convicted, and how many guilty people have gone free.

Or, closer to home, there are doctors who misdiagnose, friends, family, spouses, or children who misjudge or mistreat us, basic human rights go unmet, and now, what is all too common, an entire internet of people who, virtually overnight, will rashly judge, convict, and verbally carry out their harsh sentences.

I have a dear friend who, years after we had gotten to know each other, confessed to me that when she first met me she thought I was “stuck-up.”  I’m not exactly sure what made her believe that, but oh boy was she wrong.

Parents may have warned us that life isn’t fair, and they were right.

And maybe, especially when we’re hurting very deeply, we wonder why God hasn’t answered our prayers, and if God hasn’t made the wrong decision, too.

It can seem as if we’re suffering unjustly, and the truth is, maybe we are.

Jesus did.  He didn’t deserve to be nailed to a cross, every nerve in his body searing with pain, heaving to fill his lungs with even the slightest bit of air, a mob of people standing before him who have rashly judged and convicted him and were verbally carrying out their harsh sentences.

It was wholly unjust, but here’s the thing: it was right. In God’s sight it was good because of what He was doing through it, and though no one knew it at the time, it would have an effect, a purpose more meaningful than any other act of injustice ever would.

God has the power to do that.

So if you’re suffering unjustly right now, remember the cross.  Remember that the glory Christ’s Heavenly Father brought about through His suffering, our Heavenly Father can and will do through ours.

He saw His Son suffering unjustly, and He sees everything that’s happened or is happening to us. Nothing escapes Him. He is compassionate and understanding toward us and always knows the right thing to do, because He is the Righteous Judge. He is right 100% of the time.

In fact, there are three Persons to the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they never disagree.  There are never instances where One dissents from the conclusion of the other Two. There is no miscarriage of justice that He doesn’t see and that will not be paid for, either through His Son’s work on the cross, or through judgment in the next life.

And there is no suffering, no injustice, no unfairness – whether He allows it to continue or stops it, whether He heals or doesn’t heal, whether He restores a relationship or doesn’t, whatever the case may be – that He cannot use for His glory and make something out of it more beautiful than we can ever imagine.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:18-21

God is using those painful circumstances (if we let Him) as a holy fire in our hearts to burn off the sin that would separate us from Him, steal our peace, cause us pain, and probably injustice in another person’s life.

I’m glad my friend eventually changed her mind, and I’m glad my Father sees my heart, my life, and will use all my painful circumstances, those done to me and by me, when given to Him at the foot of the cross where all sin goes to die, to create in me and through me something beautiful.

 

And my pain is just one piece of the puzzle. When we stand before Him and all our puzzle pieces are put together, we’ll see the whole picture, and know that truth and love and righteousness has prevailed because we have the Perfect Judge who judges rightly every single time.

I’ve watched those stories where someone was wrongly convicted and spent 10, 20, 30 years in prison, and then those people are proven innocent and released.  Almost every time, when asked if they’re bitter because of the time spent in prison, with a huge smile on their face, they say no. They’re just happy it’s over and now they’re free.

It will be that way with us when we’re released from our time spent here, having suffered all kinds of trials, and we see our Savior face to face. All the pain will be gone, and we’ll just worship Him and rejoice that we’re finally free. And I’m convinced that somehow, someway, our Father will more than make it up to us.

Sometimes the state will pay restitution to someone who’s served time unjustly.  In some cases millions of dollars. If human beings do that, imagine what our Heavenly Father has planned for those who love Him, who trust Him through the injustices we face here, knowing our Righteous Judge will more than make everything whole and right and perfect in the end.

So take those injustices and give them to our Righteous Judge.  Give Him those circumstances, that pain, those people, and let Him judge rightly. Then hold onto Christ. Hold onto Hope. It may seem like a long time away, but it isn’t.  Justice is coming, and all things will be made right.

 

The Miracle of Snowflakes and Souls

Posted on by Dorci

The last couple of weeks or so here in the U.S., people have shoveled, scraped, and trudged their way through enough ice and snow to last the rest of the year.

But as we take a magnifying glass and look at a single snowflake, we’ll see that they really are fascinating little miracles, and so is Christ’s life in us.

Just like precious pearls begin as something ordinary–a grain of sand, snowflakes also begin as something just as unpretentious–a dust particle, a piece of volcanic ash, or sea salt.

As it falls through the atmosphere, each particle forms into a clear ice crystal, its individual shape and size determined by the various conditions each particle encounters as it falls to the ground, like the altitude, temperature, and humidity.

The one thing all snowflakes have in common is they each have six sides or branches.

Each of us is also born with an ingrained imperfection, that is, our sin nature. As we grow, the conditions we encounter, like the family we grew up in, the experiences we have in life, and our own personalities determine the one-of-a-kind person we become.

But our sin nature continues to act as an irritant, wreaking havoc in our souls.

“’Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18

God compares our sins to scarlet and crimson.

This word for scarlet – shaniy – refers to a maggot-like insect called a “coccus illcis” which feeds on the leaves of evergreen oak trees. The dried bodies of these insects are used to make a deep red, or crimson, dye.

Our sin acts like those parasitic creatures, eating away at our joy, our souls, and our lives.

(Another factoid I found while looking up the definition of shaniy: the urban dictionary says it’s “a psychopath with demon eyes, this little creature lacks the skill of being nice, she is a very demanding person who is hard to control sometimes, she has the capability to stab someone if she wanted to; her favourite word is **** off.” Does that sound like our sin nature or what?!)

The Lord tells us that though we have been stained with the blemish of sin, He will make them white as snow.

So what makes those former pieces of dust, ash, and sea salt, and our sin, white?

As the snow crystals, or snowflakes, fall to the ground and begin to gather together, the light shining into the snow gets scattered around inside and is reflected around all those unique six-sided snow prisms and the light that comes back out appears white, and the imperfections are no longer seen.

The Bible refers to the number six as the number of mankind, of incompleteness. Just as the one commonality among snowflakes is that they have six sides, we all have in common our imperfect humanity. Without Christ, we are incomplete and impure.

But as we receive Jesus Christ by faith, He becomes a part of us (the number 7 symbolizes completeness), and we become a part of His family, joining together like a snowdrift high on a hill. His light shines into us and is filtered back out through the prism of our character, purifying our hearts and making us white as snow.

It’s amazing to me that God made snowflakes as a microscopic allegory showing us our need for Him. It’s as if He calls to us in the whisper of a tiny, almost secret world and says, “I know all about your weaknesses, your frailties, your sins, but the power of my love can overcome all that!”

We have all come through different and unique backgrounds, circumstances, sufferings, and joys, and the shape our heart and mind have become through our own uniquely-designed life allows Christ to shine through us in the extraordinary ways He’s chosen just for us and the lives around us.

So the next time you have to shovel snow or scrape it off your car, remember God’s love for you through Christ, and how His crimson blood turned our souls white and pure as snow.  And remember, too, that the more we come together as one body and one heart with God’s family, the more His light shines in and through us.  And doesn’t the world need that right now?  

God bless,