Tag: trust

More Rope!

Posted on by Dorci

“Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock eternal.”
Isaiah 26:4 NIV

Every time I’m sure I’m at the end of my rope, God gives me more.

And I rediscover all over again that He’s the keeper of the rope.  He’s the giver of the rope. He’s the maker of the rope.

He is the rope.

He is my hope, my peace, my breath, my life.

He never lets me fall.

Oh, I’ve come close.  You know that scene in the first Mission Impossible where Tom Cruise hangs from a cable and absolutely cannot touch the floor or his cover will be blown, but his partner gets spooked and lets him go?  And suddenly Cruise is free-falling, his partner stopping him only at the last second.

via GIPHY

That’s me.  Only I’m the one who gets spooked, lets go and careens toward the bottom.  But with God there is no bottom.  Not really.  There’s always more rope, and what I thought was the bottom, wasn’t.

And however close I come to it, God is always there to break my fall.  At least He is as long as He’s the one at the end of the rope I’m holding.  As long as He’s the one I’m ultimately trusting.

Are you trusting God today?

If not, He’s only a prayer away.  Tell Him you’re putting your trust in Him.  And if you struggle with trusting Him, tell Him that, too. He already knows, and He loves you.  Open a line of communication with Him right now.  And grab the rope.

Overcoming

Posted on by Dorci

“For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5

Belief here is not just knowledge, but of entrusting oneself to Jesus Christ as Lord. We must continue to do that very thing every minute of every day, and even more intentionally as the days grow more evil.

Rejoice!

Posted on by Dorci

this is the day 3
 

 

No matter what this day holds, no matter what or whom we encounter, no matter the circumstances, the surprises, the joys or the hurts, our righteous God is the creator of this day. He has already been here, He knows what it holds, and He has made provision for us through it all. Let us keep that awareness in our hearts as we walk through today (and tomorrow…), holding His hand, praising and trusting Him as we go.

Thank you, Father, for your great, great love towards us!

The Binding of Our Spirits

Posted on by Dorci

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14

Moses did it for 40 years, and then again for another 40.  Joseph did it for 13 years. David did it for 8 years. Jonah did it for 3 days. The Hebrews did it for 430 years.  And who knows how long Job did it.

I’ve been doing it for almost 12 years.  Maybe you’ve been doing it, too.

All of us have either just gotten through, or we’re going through, or we will soon go through a waiting period.  The question is, though, what or whom are we waiting on?

In my particular case, I can easily wait on the right doctor, the right blood test, the right scan, the right procedure, the right medication, and on and on.  And I do believe that God uses doctors and medicine to achieve His purposes.  But only in His timing.

He is the One I wait on.  My healing will come in His way, and in His time.  And that healing may not come until I see my Savior face to face, but it will come.

He is my glory, my portion, my all in all.

Moses may well have thought his life in the desert herding sheep would be all the life he’d ever see.  But God was preparing him to lead God’s people across the desert.

God was preparing Joseph to lead Egypt, David to be King, and the Hebrews to trust and follow Him into the Promised Land.  And God was bringing Job into a deeper, far more intimate relationship with Him than he ever imagined.  And I believe God used Job as a witness to his friends and to the people of the town that a righteous man is one who lives by faith in God, not just by the rules he follows. (I would love to know how many people put their faith in God through Job’s amazing testimony.)

The word wait in Psalm 27:14 is qâvâh – to bind together (perhaps by twisting), to collect, to expect, to gather together.

cord
 

Our wait in the Lord in not sitting and doing nothing.  Through it we learn to let go of the world, strand by strand, and bind our spirits to His. We become one with our Savior, and His heart becomes our heart; His will, our will.

As our spirit becomes more and more bound with His, we confidently watch, expectantly look to Him for our salvation in all things. We know that God sees our heart and hears our prayers.  We understand that His wait has a purpose.  He is preparing us, teaching us, maturing us, and best of all, loving us.  Never think that the lack of an immediate answer means God doesn’t love you.  Remember Moses and Joseph and David and Jonah and Job and His beloved people who waited in Egypt.

Whatever we wait for on this earth, whether it’s health or relationships or jobs, or for our brothers and sisters in certain parts of world who wait for their release from unjust imprisonment, whether that’s a jail cell or the evil hands of their abusers, or a million other things, all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ wait on Him for our ultimate rescue.

“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:19, 22-25

Even the creation groans for the time when sin is a thing of the past and God brings us all into the presence of His glory.  We wait, too, but we wait expectantly, patiently, hopefully, knowing that our rescue is near.

And while we wait, while we groan inwardly with creation for all things to be made new and perfect and beautiful, we must hold onto the hope that our waiting here prepares us for our life there.  Our wait, and all we’ve gone through, will be worth it as we stand before Jesus and the purpose for it all is suddenly clear, and we share our reward with the Rescuer of our souls.

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Isaiah 64:4

Spiritual Vision

Posted on by Dorci

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”  John 9:25

Up until the very moment I was saved, I had always believed two things: that God and satan were equal powers at opposite ends of the spectrum of good and evil, and that abortion was acceptable.

spiritual visionBut the second I believed in Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit, my spiritual eyes were opened and I knew those things I had believed were lies.

In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we have been given a second set of eyes, if you will, that gives us the vision to see, to walk, to know, to trust, in the Spirit. That spiritual vision allows us to see the truth that is Christ, and to walk this journey in the light of God.

We have a choice every day to use only the eyes in our head by feeding our flesh, or to use the spiritual eyes of our hearts by feeding our spirit.

While on the island of Patmos, John wrote that he was in the Spirit as he was given a revelation of Jesus Christ, a vision of Him in all His glory in the heavenly realm.  He saw Him dressed in holy robes with a golden sash, eyes blazing like fire, feet like bronze glowing in a furnace, voice like the sound of rushing waters, a face like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  He was the One Who had the authority to hold the angels and the churches in his hand, and also the keys of death and Hades. 

When John wept because no one was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll that would unleash the timely events of the future of all things, an elder comforted him with this, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  Revelation 5:5

When we, too, are walking in the Spirit – praying, worshipping, taking in the Word of God, obeying, forgiving, fellowshipping, loving – our spiritual vision will become clearer, and our foundations stronger.  We will see Christ for who He is, high and exalted, with authority over all things.  We will believe and experience the depth of His power and love in our lives, along with His wisdom and discernment, and no puny trial will take us down.

It’s easy, though, with all that goes on in our busy lives to forget to feed the spiritual life, and then our dim, human eyesight prevails again, the flesh follows it, and we revert back to seeing and living and believing like the world.

We see (and judge) others by how they look outwardly instead of by the beauty of their souls.  We see them through their worldly wealth or poverty instead of by the riches of their inherent value as one made in the image of God.  We see them through their sins instead of as people whom Christ died for and who are in need of prayer and a Savior.

John told us that “…anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” 1 John 2:11

We can choose, instead, to see with our spiritual eyes – the vision we’ve been given through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Just as we’ll see and know Christ more clearly, we’ll see others through His eyes, the spiritual lens of His grace and mercy and forgiveness.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24

Holy Spirit, please interrupt our busyness and remind us to seek you in all we do. Remind us to stay in prayer about all things at all times; remind us to be thankful; remind us to feed on the bread of your Word; remind us to fellowship with other believers, that we might encourage and be encouraged.  Help us to see with the unique vision You give us, to love You, Your people, and even those who consider us their enemies.  Help us to walk in You, that we might grow in faith and grace, and not stumble when the enemy comes.Help us to be disciplined to allow Your light to shine through us in this ever-darkening world.  Help us to discern Your still, small voice, that we might follow You on our constantly winding journeys, that we might one day hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

In Jesus’ Precious Name, Amen.

Recess

Posted on by Dorci

 

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know I’m taking a bit of a hiatus.  In the meanwhile, I’ll be praying for you, and I’ll still check in, so if anyone has a prayer request just leave me a comment, a private message, an email, a package dropped by drone…..  ;O)  I’d love to hear from you.

Grace and Abundant Peace,

 

 

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.  1 John 3:2-3

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

Posted on by Dorci

“Never stop learning.”

“Keep learning.”

“Don’t give up learning.”

I must have heard this admonition at least three or four times over the past couple of weeks.  Heaven help us if we ever come to the place where we think we have it all figured out.  Or that we’re too old or too young or too busy, or too anything to learn new things.

There is no where that is truer than in our walk with Christ on our journey through life.

God is always speaking, as long as we’re listening.

In Peter’s second letter to those living in faith in Christ, he writes:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.” 2 Peter 1:5-7

Faith is not a badge we put on at the moment of conversion as if the race were over and the rewards already given.  Faith is the starting point.  Then, with our faith in hand, we run the race.

Virtue

Live with high moral standards.  That is a daily, conscious effort in this morally-declining world.  Up is down, right is wrong and wrong is right.  But we know where to go to cut to the chase and find the absolute truth, and that is always God’s Word.

Knowledge

God tells us in scripture that we are to grow in the knowledge of Christ, grow in the wisdom and knowledge that Christ gives, and, interestingly, that husbands are to live in an understanding (knowledgeable) way with their wives.

Self-control

The more we allow the Holy Spirit to rein in our hearts and lives, the more we will learn to restrain ourselves from the things of the world that create division from Him, and vice versa.

Steadfastness

This is a cheerful, patient endurance through all our trials, ever-increasing in hope that through it all our God is molding us into the image of His Son.  We learn to wait – to wait for direction, to wait for discernment, to wait for rescue, to wait for healing, to wait on our God and know that He hears, He loves us, and His timing and ways are perfect.

Godliness

Simply, less of me and more of Him.

Brotherly affection

Daily we are to grow in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Love

This is agape, the highest form of love. It is the pinnacle of sacrificial, unconditional love that puts ourselves on the alter to serve another.

To grow in these godly qualities takes a willingness to be humble.  It takes being able to admit when we’re wrong so we can repent and grow.  It is taking regular stock of our hearts through scripture as the Sword “penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12) 

It takes walking out of the shadows into the bright and baring light of Christ and letting Him examine us, burning off those ungodly traits through the fire of trial, and knowing that those same flames burn with His love and grace and mercy and forgiveness.

Why? Why do we want to do these things instead of just coasting through life, knowing that we have salvation at the end of it?  Peter tells us in the next verse:

“For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 1:8

I don’t know about you, but I want to be effective.  I want my life to count for good.  It was used for enough pain and sorrow before Christ graciously invaded my life.  I want to learn and grow and trip and get back up and try again, trust more, pray more, yield more, love more. 

In this one life I get, I want Christ to have His way in and through me. I want to learn the way of my Master and be prepared and unashamed when I meet Him face to face. 

But it won’t come by osmosis.

So I take the faith handed to me by the Holy Spirit, and together we run…

Grace and Peace in Abundance,

 

The Mercy of Discipline

Posted on by Dorci

“…He does not treat us as our sins deserve…” Psalm 103:10

God’s mercy is not getting what we deserve – the rightful punishment for our sins. But God’s mercy goes even further.

We also deserve to be left alone in our pride and temptations, only to fall headlong into sin and reaping the consequences.

But again, God does not give us what we deserve. Instead, He is a heavenly Father whose eyes and thoughts are constantly on us. He lovingly woos us to the cross, and then once we are His children, He continues to mature us through the discipline of pain and heartache and suffering. He knows the precise timing for opened and closed doors. He knows just how much to allow, and when to hold back. He knows how to teach our hearts not to wander, and how to shape us into the image of His Son.

Not only is the absence of punishment His mercy, so is His discipline.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

 
Grace and Peace,

 

The God of All Restoration

Posted on by Dorci

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To Him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11

I’ve been reading through 1 Peter again, but this time more through the eyes of Peter.  Precious Peter.

The man who was given three chances to pray along with Jesus on the night He was betrayed, instead fell asleep and three times fell into temptation.

He had looked into Jesus’ eyes and said he would be the lone faithful holdout among everyone else on earth…and then denied Him the very next day.

He had gone so far as to tell Jesus would rather die with Him than deny Him…then denied Him with an oath.

He had impulsively cut an ear off one of the high priest’s servants when they came to arrest Jesus, and then fell so fast and so hard that that very day he called down curses and emphatically swore on oath that he…did…not…know…the…Man.

And then a rooster crowed, and Jesus stopped everything and looked into his eyes. 

Peter fled, found a solitary place and wept bitterly.

It must have seemed like an eternity from that moment until the moment after Jesus had risen from the dead and met them on the beach with fish frying over a fire and Jesus once again looked him in the eye,  asking him not once, but three times, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” John 21:15-17

 

And three times Peter answered yes.

And in that moment Jesus restored him with his new assignment, saying “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17) And then the command “Follow Me.” (John 21:19)

And Peter became a fisher of men.

The man who had been so filled with pride before became the man who wrote “be self-controlled.” (1 Peter 1:13)

The man who had let fear rule in his heart is the same man who would later write “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 13:14-17)

Peter knew true suffering.  Those days he spent with guilt and shame, far from his friend, far from God, far from forgiveness, were agonizing. He probably spent much of those days with his head hanging down looking at the ground, or into the sea, as he resigned himself to his old life of fishing for fish.  Jesus was gone; his life with Him was over. Simon Peter discovered there is no greater suffering than to be separated from God.

Maybe circumstances in your life have changed and you’re feeling like a failure.  Maybe they’ve left you on the sidelines. Maybe you think God’s done with you.

Let me tell you something: He isn’t.  He wasn’t done with Peter and He’s not done with you.

He’s using circumstances to mature you, to perfect you, to make you wholly dependent on Him. And when the time is right, with His resurrection power, He will restore you. 

You are His domain, His glory.  He started the work and He will complete it. Hold onto to the hope that Peter discovered was not a vain hope.

Be careful not to fill that heartache with something less than God’s perfect will, something of this earth.  Don’t go back to fishing. Keep waiting and filling your heart with truth, hope and His promises. 

Ultimate restoration will come for all of us who trust in Him when we see our Savior face to face.  As long as we’re on this side of heaven and away from the Lord we will feel a longing to be with Him, to be restored body and soul.  In the meantime, keep following Christ on the narrow road.

He’s coming back soon!

Grace and peace,

 

Is He god or God?

Posted on by Dorci

He had performed miracles, taught in the Synagogues, cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, forgave sin. And if that weren’t enough…

He claimed to be King.

“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”  Matthew 21:5

He claimed to be the fulfillment of prophecy.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17

He claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah.

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’” John 4:25-26

He claimed to be the Son of God.

“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’” Matthew 16:15-17

He claimed to be the Son of Man.

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Matthew 12:8

He claimed to be the only way to heaven.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  John 14:6

He claimed to be the King of the Jews.

“Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you say.’” Matthew 27:11

Jesus was all that and so much more.  And the Israelites were thrilled, for a while. But they had expectations of their Messiah that were simply not true.

They expected Him to set up an earthly kingdom, to end their suffering, to take over rule and provide for them, to sit on a throne and be their king.

And it’s in those wrong expectations where things went awry.

Things can go awry for us, too, when we conjure up in our minds a god who simply does not exist.  When life happens and what we expect this god of our imaginations – the god we’ve set inside our parameters, in our little box – to be and to do for us does not happen.  When we want God to conform to our image of Him, and we set up this false god as an idol and worship him, and then tragedy strikes, prayers aren’t answered, what we hear is silence, we can begin to shout “crucify Him!”

Oh, we may not use those words.  We may just stop praying, or reading the Bible, or going to church. We may stop trusting, or witnessing, or believing.  We may just stop walking with Him.

Throughout the week we’ll see that the disciples did that very thing.  Instead of listening and learning and believing the truth, even in the face of overwhelming fear, instead of allowing their expectations of a limitless, righteous, holy God Who can never put in a box to be changed, instead of throwing away their pride, they turned back.  They scattered.  They hid themselves in the darkness of the world.

But, there is redemption…