Tag: trust

Lesson From a Rescue – #2

Posted on by Dorci

 

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:18

 

It’s been almost two years since we rescued our furry, four-legged friend, and it continues to be apparent that he rescued us right back.  The last time I talked about how the Lord used Rocky to remind me that no matter what, God never tires of loving us or taking caring of us.  That He will continue to rescue us until that day He rescues us for the last time and takes us home to be with Him forever.  And recently He reminded me of that once again.

 

As much as I hate it, there are still times when the pain I’m feeling is so deep, so encompassing, so overshadowing, that I wonder where God is.  Is He still there?  Does He see me?  Does He know what’s going on and how much pain I’m in?

Recently I’d been suddenly faced with some new health issues, on top of an already far-too-full plate of them, and I was overwhelmed with it all.  They were bigger than my brain could handle and I didn’t know what to do.  I’d been running to try to stay ahead of them, but they caught up to me one day and I broke down in tears.

My bedroom door was closed and Rocky was at the other end of the house.

When I was finished, I knew when I opened the door Rocky would be right there. He always is.

And sure enough he was right there, waiting for me to open the door.  His rescued heart knows what pain is and somehow he understands when someone needs a comforting friend.

I immediately thought that if a dog with a brain the size of a walnut and a heart not much bigger is right there whenever I need comforting, how much more is my Abba Father who sent His only Son to die for my sins and filled me with His Holy Spirit near to me when my heart is broken?  And how much more will He rescue me when my spirit is humbled?

Sometimes I just need to open the door of my heart, to look up from the cloud of confusion and pain, to see that He is there.  And even in those times I don’t see or hear or feel Him, I can know He’s there, just on the other side of the door, because I am called to walk by faith and not by sight.  Sometimes pain is designed to be overwhelming, bigger than we can handle, so our faith will grow bigger than our need for sight.

The Friend we have in Christ knows what it’s like to suffer, to be in pain, and even to cry out to His Father, asking where He is.  He understands our pain and is compassionate toward us.  I’m convinced that when we’re prostrate on the ground in grief, He’s down there with us, holding us, and crying out to the Father on our behalf.

Rocky is my furry little illustration of that.

But the Friend we have in Christ knows our heart and our pain, inside and out, and His love and compassion bring Him near and rescue us, now and forever.

The Worst Kind of Fake News

Posted on by Dorci

“You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?” Gal 3:1-3

 

Paul spends much of his time writing, pleading with the new believers to not get sidetracked, but to continue to keep their eyes on their Savior, walking in the Spirit, and receiving from Him the grace and strength they need to live out their faith.

But some of them were being lured into believing that salvation was Jesus and…

That and can be anything.  For the Galatians it was Jesus and the law.

People were telling the believers in Galatia they needed to follow the law to be justified. They needed to rely on themselves and their works, in effect, luring them away from the grace they received by faith in Christ.  And Paul knew that as they moved toward reliance on the law, on themselves, faith in Christ would be left behind.

Paul said they’d been bewitched – to malign, that is, to speak harmful untruths about, speak evil of, slander, defame, injurious, to fascinate by false representations.

The enemy’s ways haven’t changed in 2000 years. They haven’t changed since the garden. he is the originator of fake news.

Sometimes his ways are as blatant as they were in Galatia, but oftentimes the method is more inconspicuous and gradual.

New believers can be easy prey for the enemy. The wolf enters the pen and the lambs are still naive and easily coerced. They can be convinced to do anything other than the simplicity of putting their faith in Jesus and following Him daily.  Surely it can’t be that easy, he tells them. 

Older believers can be led away, too, if they get lazy in their walk, let their relationship with Christ grow cold, or fall into sin, and instead of repenting, they gradually move away from their faith in Christ to reliance on their works to earn favor, forgiveness, grace, and love.

And no matter how long a person has been in Christ, anyone who lets the reading and studying of God’s Word slide and along with it discernment and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, any “inspirational” meme or thought going around social media that sounds good, but is deeply theologically flawed, can be used to alter our course of thinking and begin to lead us away from a pure and truthful faith in Christ.

And as individuals, and whole churches (made up of individuals), it’s easy to get past those early days, weeks, and years after salvation (or after church planting) and begin to go on autopilot.  Instead of relying on the Holy Spirit we gradually start just doing because we’ve done it for so long, forgetting that we’re living a life of faith, a life that requires the Holy Spirit to daily move in and through us.

It is Christ’s life we live now, not our own.  We cannot live it in our own strength or with our own human wisdom.  We can never presuppose we know what direction He wants us to go, what He wants us to do, and when He wants us to do it.

Paul exhorted the Christians in Galatia to not go back to trying to earn salvation or God’s love and grace by works of the law.  By trying to be perfect.  If that could ever be the case then Christ died in vain. Trying to earn our way to God through works says we don’t need the Holy Spirit any longer and we quench Him from moving in our lives.

If we try to finish in our flesh, we forfeit the strength and courage He desires to give us to live out our lives for Him, and the love and grace and peace He wants to fill us with.

There are moments in our faith, whether at 6 months in or 30 years, where we can press in to Christ harder, or we can take a step back, and begin to rely on ourselves.

All of us will have those moments, and most of us will choose at some point, to one degree or another, to rely on ourselves for a time.

The good news is God’s grace toward His children doesn’t run out.

Anytime we’ve been relying on ourselves and looking around we realize we’re not following Jesus anymore, all we need to do is call Him.

Do the thing we did at first: return to our first love. Believe in Christ and repent. Turn our minds back to Him and His Word. Put our faith and trust in our Savior, and ask Him to fill us afresh with His Holy Spirit that He might lead us and give us wisdom to serve Him all the rest of our days.

The Story of Christmas, and All God’s Blessings, Don’t Come with Pride, They Come with This

Posted on by Dorci

A million thoughts could have gone through young Mary’s mind as she was suddenly and astonishingly visited by an angel and told that she would be overcome by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of the Most High.  She wasn’t yet married (though pledged to be), and she was a virgin, yet was asked to believe this miraculous conception would take place inside her own body. 

What would Joseph think? Would he leave her?  What would her family think?  Would they disown her? What would society think? Would they cast her out, or worse, stone her to death? But she put aside her fears, humbled herself to God’s will, and immediately answered “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.”  Because she did, she gave birth to the Savior of the World.

When Joseph discovered she was pregnant, his mind was rattled, and he planned to divorce her.  (In those days, being pledged to be married was as serious a commitment as marriage.)  Could he trust that the angel that came to him was telling him the truth, that Mary had not been unfaithful, but had amazingly become pregnant through the Holy Spirit? But he put aside his fears, humbled himself to God’s will, and married her, and watched the Son of God brought into this world.

The shepherds, living out in the field with their sheep, were visited by a host of angels and were told that an almost unbelievable thing had happened – the Savior of the world had been born, and was lying in a manger of all things. Leaving their sheep and their fears aside, they humbled themselves to God’s will, and not only went to see this newborn King, but spread the amazing news that the Messiah was in their midst.

The Magi left their home, followed a star, and humbled themselves to worship the King of the Jews.

And Jesus, though being God, the very one by and through whom all things were made, humbled Himself to His Father’s will, left His Heavenly throne, His identity as God, the worship of angels, and was born a helpless, vulnerable baby.  

Even the Father revealed His character of humility by sending His own Son to be born, to suffer, and die for a sinful people.

The power of the Christmas story lies in putting aside fears, rights, and pride, and putting on humility.  It is a picture of the beauty of fully trusting God and His will, no matter what, and submitting to it.

God’s character is one of humility, and that’s why it’s so powerful.  We see that in the person of Jesus through His birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection to life again.

We don’t see a lot of humility in our world.  Instead, it’s about pride, and rights, and self.  And in living in the flesh, it lives outside God’s character, and loses the very power and blessing it’s striving for.

“God opposes the proud
but shows favor to the humble.
Submit yourselves then to God.
Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and He will lift you up.”
James 4:6b, 7, 10

We see that play out in Luke 1:30 when the angel appeared to Mary and said,

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

And further in the story told by Luke, when Mary visited her relative, Elizabeth (who was also miraculously carrying a child in her old age), and worshipped God:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.”

It’s not easy to humble ourselves to God’s will, especially when a million scenarios can run through our minds and fears stand ready to act as a wall, threatening to stand between us and God along with His favor, His will, and His blessings.

But the more time we spend with our Savior, the one who knows what it’s like to humble Himself and face those scenarios, coming out the other side victorious, the more we will love Him and be filled with His character of humility, ready to trust and obey Him in a moment’s notice, and stand with Him in victory on the other side. 

This Christmas, in more ways than one, my Heavenly Father is reminding me of the beauty and power of humility, that good things come with it, and though I don’t understand the hows or whys of any given circumstance, if I will, in the strength and courage of the Holy Spirit, put aside my fears, then God’s goodness and untold blessings will fill my life.

 

May you find favor with God, and may you have a very blessed Christmas,

Saturday Song – King of the World

Posted on by Dorci

I was driving home from a doctor appointment the other day when this song came on the radio.  I’ve heard it a few times recently, and the timing on this day, at this moment, wasn’t lost on me.  I had asked for prayer from friends for this appointment, half joking that this would be doctor number 5,482.

Much of my prayer life over the last 14 years and 10 months has been consumed with asking for answers to health mysteries that, so far, doctors have yet to answer. God has yet to answer. I’d love to be able to say I trusted God from the first day all the way to this, that my faith never wavered, that I never took the reins from Him and tried to steer the cart in the direction I thought it should go. I’d love to say that. But I can’t.

And as I sang along, I heard the lyrics again…

“I try to take life back right out of the hands of the King of the world
How could I make you so small
When you’re the one who holds it all
When did I forget that you’ve always been the king of the world”

 

And I suddenly thought about Jack standing on the prow of the ship yelling out for all mankind to hear –  “I’m the king of the world!”

Don’t we all stand inside our hearts yelling “I’m the king of the world!”? We all want to the be the king of our own world. Our pride drives us to it, and our fears expand our territory. 

That’s the struggle. To drive or be driven by God. Those reins are so close, sometimes so loosely held by God, and if we want them bad enough He’ll hand them over and let us steer ourselves right into a ditch.  And He’ll wait, and pray until we’re ready to reach up to Him, covered in the muck, asking Him to lift us out yet again.  And He’s always right there, with love in His eyes, pulling us out, washing us off and setting us right back next to Him.

Whether we’re riding a ship, a cart, a race car or a skateboard, there’s only one rightful King of the world, of our world.  And yes, the ride is bumpy and confusing and painful and sometimes feels excruciatingly long, but He knows where He’s going and how to get there.  We can trust Him.  After all, He was King long before there was a world and you and me.

 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Genesis 1:1

 

“You will always be the King of the world…”

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Healing

Posted on by Dorci

“Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise His holy name.
Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all His benefits –
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalm 103:1-5

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  I come to you today and lift up to you so many us who are suffering with severe and prolonged physical illness.  Lord, it’s so easy to lose focus of you when we or a loved one is suffering and there seems to be no end. The day to day pull to focus on the pain, the illness, the medications, whatever it may be, can be overwhelming and exhausting. 

Lord, we need your strength.  We need your presence to overwhelm us and turn our eyes back to you, to gaze on your beauty, your grace and mercy, your compassion which never ends. Help us remember that our suffering is in your hands, and through it we can identify with Christ’s suffering, with His death and resurrection, for we have died to sin and you’ve made us alive in Him to the spiritual things which are infinitely of more worth. 

We ask for your peace that surpasses all human understanding, for your wisdom to lead us every day, and for your joy fill us to overflowing, that we would be a walking testimony of your love and goodness, of the fact that this is not our home, that we wait as we put our hope in a future home, a future life where all things will be made new.  So whether you heal us in this life, and I pray if that’s your will for any of us that you would, or if you heal us in the next life, may you be glorified in ways we can only imagine. 

Please use us Lord to proclaim your name, to have compassion on others, and to show the world your grace that many would be saved, and those away from you would return. 

“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

May your will be done on earth, Lord, as it is in heaven.  May you bring a revival to our own hearts, to the body of Christ, and throughout the world.  Maranatha!  In the eternal name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.

Lesson From a Rescue

Posted on by Dorci

“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” Isaiah 46:4 (NIV)

We had been scouring rescue facilities for months looking for just the right dog to adopt into our family. We finally found a little black Lhasa Apso mix who had a past only God knew. He had been a stray picked up by the county, full of ticks and matted hair. He seemed unfazed by whatever adventures he’d had while living on the street, and his big, brown eyes begged us to take him home. We instantly loved him.

We soon discovered he was not completely unaffected by his time lost and alone. Not only did his body need to be healed of an infection left by all those ticks, but his little heart did, too.

For months I never saw him close his eyes. He’d lie on the floor with his big brown eyes wide open, as if he were afraid to let down his guard. He loved walks to the park, but when that trip was taken too late one night, we discovered how afraid of the dark he was. And every once in a while while lying inside the house, with nothing going on around him, he’d jerk his head around looking for something that wasn’t there.

We treated his physical ailments and spoiled him with as much love as we could. I’d stroke his wavy black hair and remind him over and over “You’re safe now. We’re going to take care of you.”

Months later he was lying on my lap and I reached over and held his prematurely graying paw, and for the first time I saw him close his eyes.

It suddenly occurred to me how much I was like him. I may not have lived on the street (although I came close), but for many years I was lost and alone.

Then one fine day God saw me and rescued me. He adopted me as His own. He removed the enemy that had so viciously attached itself to me, cleansed me from the inside out, and began binding up my wounds. 

Even though it’s been many years, that anxiety and fear can creep back in when I face a new hardship, or even the possibility of one. Will God still take care of me? Has He forgotten me? Is He tired of providing for me?

I turn and see Rocky at my feet and know it’s not too much to take care of everything he needs. He is my furry little reminder that if I can love and take care of a little dog like that, how much more will God love and take care of me? 

No, everything isn’t perfect. God hasn’t given us a dog’s life. But He has given us something infinitely better – a lifetime of walking with the Lord as He uses the imperfection of our lives to draw us closer to Him, to mold us into the image of His Son, and prepare us for a life when everything will be perfect.

He is our Provider, and not only will He provide for us in this life, He’s also preparing a home for us with Him in the next.

That word “sustain” in Isaiah 46 is the Hebrew word sabal.  It means to be gravid, meaning to be pregnant, to carry one’s young.  What a tender thought, that the Lord will carry us, as a mother carries her children, from pregnancy, and the Lord says, even to our old age will He carry us.  He will provide for our every need.

As our perfect provider, He is all things to us – our rescuer, our strength, our fortress, and countless other things, from birth to death, and beyond. We can live with confidence knowing that as we trust and follow Him, laying our needs at His feet, and knowing He’s well aware of them even before we do, He will provide for every one, both present and future, as He loves us and has compassion on us. We are His children, and He forever delights to show us His mercy.

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Refining

Posted on by Dorci

“Praise be to the LORD, for He showed me the wonders of his love
when I was in a city under siege. In my alarm I said,
‘I am cut off from your sight!’
Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.”
Psalm 31:21-22, 23

 

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We thank you for your everlasting love, a love that is so profound, so complete, so encompassing, that we can never fully comprehend it on this side of heaven.  Lord, there are a multitude of ways we can find ourselves under attack, whether it’s from people, from our own failing bodies, or as a target of your enemy, but you constantly surround us with the strength of your  protection and provision. 

No matter what’s happening in our lives, we need not fear. We trust that you use those times of trial as heat that brings to the surface the dross of our hearts –  those hidden weaknesses only you fully see. 

Help us remember we don’t need to hide from you because of those weaknesses, but you call us to come to you in the confidence of your love and grace, in the name of your Son, and confess those weaknesses – our fears, our anxieties, our pride, and give them all to you, that you might refine us as pure gold, and prepare us to enter into your presence. 

We put our hope and trust in you again, for you are worthy, our LORD and our King. We pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus, our Messiah, amen.

 

It Is Finished

Posted on by Dorci

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. 

Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. 

Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself.” Hebrews 7:23-27

 

In the world people believe that if they do enough good, if they’re better than the other guy, if they’re more good than bad, if they just tip the scales, they will earn a place in heaven.

Those with no religion believe it, and those with religion alone believe it. My friends, this is a lie from the pit of hell, designed to keep people believing they’re saved without actually receiving salvation.

Sometimes even believers can slip into a subconscious belief that we must add good works to the grace of God given through the sacrifice of His Son, maybe not for salvation, but for acceptance and love. 

The sacrifices of old were given as a forerunner, a sign of the full and complete Sacrifice to come. Jesus Christ, and He alone, was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Any attempt to add onto that perfect sacrifice is sin. It is an offense to Christ and His work done on the cross, and to the Father who gave His Son to do it.

It was given once. No other sacrifice, by Him or any one else, is needed for salvation ever again.

It was given for all. Anyone and everyone – no matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done – is invited to partake of the Sacrifice, to receive it by faith, for full payment of one’s own sins, now and forever.

If you recognize that you’ve been trusting in your own good works alone, or as an “add on” to Christ’s sacrifice, or trusting in another person to be the one who sits between you and God, offering up prayers for your forgiveness, or giving you ways to atone for your sin, telling you that through them you will be forgiven, I urge you to hear what Christ Himself said on the cross:

“It is finished.”

That phrase means to end, complete, execute, conclude, to discharge a debt, to pay. It’s done. There is nothing left for us to do, and no other human being needed to remove the guilt of our sins. He is the LORD, and the High Priest who lives forever, and no other can take His place.

All we need to do is believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior sent to die as the perfect and last sacrifice that paid for our sins, and pray, asking God for forgiveness, receiving Christ and His sacrifice, by faith, as a free gift in payment for every sin we’ve ever committed, and ever will commit. And then follow Him. If you want to read more, click on How You Can Know God at the top of this page.

And to my brothers and sisters in Christ who, for whatever reason, struggle with feeling like you need to earn God’s love, to you, and to myself, I say this: rest. Take a deep breath and rest in His abiding love; rest in His grace; rest in His mercy; rest in the finished work of the cross; rest in the resurrection.

You may have had to earn someone else’s love, or try and try and still never receive it, but that’s the world’s way, not God’s. That’s not who He is.

God is love, and the source of all true love. He cannot deny Himself. The Father sent His Son out of love, and the Son came out of love, and died out of love. He is preparing a place for us in heaven out of love. He is maturing and readying us out of love, and will come back again out of love.

It was His love that drew us, and it’s His love that will keep us, and welcome us home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer to Proclaim

Posted on by Dorci

Image result for ruth 4:14
 

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you.  Thank you for not only providing Ruth with a redeemer, but for giving us a Redeemer in your Son through her.  We pray you will give us boldness to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and that He would become known in more and more hearts in our families, in our neighborhoods, at our places of business, throughout our country, and into the world. Lord Jesus, help us to continually seek you, to trust you, and hear from you so that our steps our led by you with wisdom and grace.  When we face difficulties, help us proclaim your name. When we are blessed with success, help us proclaim your name. When we don’t understand, help us proclaim your name. In life and in death, help us to continually, boldly, faithfully proclaim the Name that is above all names, – Yeshua Hamashiach – Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One, our Savior and Redeemer. In His glorious name we pray, amen.

Don’t Give Up

Posted on by Dorci

Don’t give up.

Those are my words to you today. Well, those are God’s words to me, and I’m sharing them with you. Don’t give up.

That health issue you’ve been dealing with for so long? Don’t give up.

That relationship you’ve been trying to heal for so long? Don’t give up.

That person you’ve been praying about for so long? Don’t give up.

That ministry you’re in, that job you’ve worked hard at, that goal you keep trying and maybe failing… Insert your own seemingly impossible situation. 

Don’t. Give. Up.

What if Moses had given up during his 40 years before God called him, or the 40 years he wandered in the desert after He called him? What if Jeremiah had given up prophesying to God’s people because they refused to listen to him? What if Abraham and Sarah had given up on having the promised child? What if Nehemiah had given up when the walls of Jerusalem had been destroyed? What if Job had given up when his wife told him to?

What if Ruth had given up when her husband died? What if Joseph had given up while he languished in prison? What if Gideon had given up and let fear take over while hiding in the winepress? What if David had given up when he sinned so colossally? What if Peter had given up and never come back to Jesus after His resurrection? What if John had given up on the island of Patmos?

God’s Word is not a cleaned up, whitewashed story showing only the good side of mankind.  God intentionally lets us see the worst of it – the sin, the shame, the end of the road, the hopelessness that exists in all our lives at one time or another.

And then we see God. Time and time again we see a loving, gracious Heavenly Father who loves to change the story.  He loves a surprise ending. And a surprise beginning and middle.  He loves to show the greatness of His mercy at a time when no one would have expected it.

God’s Word, which continues in all His believers, is a story of a God who makes the impossible possible. He makes the wretched sinner new and free. He makes the dead alive again. He gives hope to the hopeless. He is the miracle-maker, the faith-giver, the blessed redeemer. He is the power and the glory. He is the overcomer.

Call on Him now in the confidence of who He is and confess the sin, present the problem, and then wait with great expectation.

 

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.”  Psalm 42:5

 

If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, let me say this – God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent His only Son to die in your place. Yes, you. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, it doesn’t matter how you’ve failed, it doesn’t matter where you are, who you are, how old or young you are.  (Believe me, no one was as lost as I was.) God is able to save you right here, right now. 

Simply acknowledge that you have sinned –  in other words, confess you’re not perfect. None of us is. We have all sinned and fallen short of the perfection of God. Then tell God that you receive Jesus Christ’s payment on the cross for your sin, and ask Jesus to come into your life, into your heart, to make you a new person, and to fill you with the Holy Spirit. 

If you want to read more, you can click up at the top on How You Can Know God, and you can read a little snippet of my story of redemption at My Testimony. If you prayed this prayer, or if you have any questions, or would like prayer for any reason, click on A Place For Prayer Requests or you can email me by clicking on that swanky envelope to the right. May the Lord bless you and fill you anew with His hope and peace.