Let me preview what I have planned for the next few weeks on my Facebook posts. For years, I have struggled in my walk with God. I approached my relationship with Him in a self-centered, checklist fashion that had my duties on one side of the ledger and God’s duties on the other side of the ledger.
But if you’ve shared my experiences, you know that sometimes we can work, and work and work, but it doesn’t seem that God responds the way we expect Him to respond. Pretty soon, we begin to think God is not being fair or that He’s more concerned about helping others than He is about helping me.
This can lead to frustrating questions for God and even accusations against Him and His actions or inactions in our lives. Have you ever been there in your life? If not, I am so thankful because it is a heartbreaking place to be.
This is where I was. And I stayed there for a long, long time. But Jesus patiently waited for me to align myself with Him. I had sinned so much and so badly that it was a challenge for me to get to where I needed to be. Not because of any difficulties that Jesus laid before me but because of the difficulties I laid before myself.
But here is where things started to come into balance for me. I had been trying to serve God with a bad heart. I tried to do it on my own terms. I didn’t seek His grace, I set up a system of transactions between what I would do and what He would do.
The problem is that this system does not work. It is doomed to fail, and it is not biblical. I realized that I needed His grace in order for me to live the life Jesus has in store for me.
I began to understand that Jesus didn’t lay a heavy burden on me and say, “You better get this right, or I’m going to condemn you!” Rather, Jesus says, “Put your trust in Me and accept my grace, take my light yoke, and I will transform you into a man you could never become on your own.”
So, instead of focusing on being a man of works, I surrendered to His grace. And an amazing thing happened. I became a man who began to do more than I have ever dreamed I’d be able to do. By focusing on getting my heart right, it prepared the soil for the Word to work in me mightily. And that mighty work was changing my nature where the spiritual me claimed dominance over the carnal me.
Over the next few weeks, I will share things I put into place to help me, as James says, “establish my heart”. These things are practical tips that anyone can do. You don’t need a certain level of knowledge or minimum experience as a Christian to do these things. You can simply choose to do them or choose not to do them.
But I can tell you that having made them a part of my life, they helped my heart be what it should be, and I began to see the issues of life flow from it (Proverbs 4:23). And when I am diligent in keeping my heart where it needs to be, living a Christ-centered life just happens. But when I neglect my heart, I struggle greatly.
I pray that the things I share with you can help you as richly as they have helped me. I look forward to meeting with you next week as we discuss the first thing I do to prepare my heart for Kingdom living.
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23).
Our nation has taught us to be prideful. And while there is nothing wrong with feeling the satisfaction that comes with using our God-given talents to achieve accomplishments, let us not be quick to forget God in the “God-given” aspect of our accomplishments.
Do we open our pantry and see the overflowing blessings that God has given and think, “Look at what I have provided for myself and my family?”
Do we see our home with its full multicar garage, furnishings, and pool and think, “Look at what I have been able to provide for myself and my family?”
Do we look at our job title and think, “Look at how I have navigated myself through my career to achieve my accolades?”
Do we look at our paychecks and think, “Look at what I earn because of my value?”
Before we are too quick in looking at the things we have done for ourselves and assume they will continue forever because of our greatness, let us remember the words of an ancient king who thought much the same way when He forgot to acknowledge God:
“and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?”
While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you,” (Daniel 4:30-31 ESV).
Sometimes, I fear we put more of a burden on our shoulders than God puts upon us. How often have we stressed over decisions we must make, hoping we make the choice God wants us to make?
Do we approach these major decisions as though there are two doors, and as long as we choose the door God wants us to choose, we will be blessed? But if we choose the wrong door, do we think we will miss out on the blessings of God?
I’m not sure that this is how God expects us to approach our decisions as we use the free will He has endowed us with. While we always need to pray for wisdom when making decisions because we want God to partner with us as we navigate life, as long as the choices before us are honorable, I’m not sure God is too concerned about our decisions.
Could it be that God’s disposition is, “If you choose path A, obey and honor Me, and I will be with you; but if you choose path B, obey and honor Me, and I will be with you.”
The anxiety we feel over making the “right” choice which is before us can be eased if we approach it not as, “Lord, please help me make the right choice”; but rather, “Lord, give me wisdom as I consider the choices before me and bless me in the choice I make.”
I choose to see my loving God as someone who will aid me in whatever honorable choice I make rather than as a game show host who says, “Oh, you choose door A. Let’s see what you would have received if you chose door B.”
My God is my Father, who wishes to bless me as I walk with Him. I will concern myself with walking with Him, regardless of my choices, rather than stress over making the “right” decision.
Isn’t it amazing that we serve a sovereign God Who can bless our path regardless of our choices?
I’m back in Genesis in my daily Bible reading, this time going through the Bible in the chronological order the books have been written. It never ceases to amaze me how many things you learn when you read God’s word.
This time, I noticed something interesting in chapter 32. Jacob, who had deceived his older brother Esau and taken his birthright, has returned home after 20 years of fleeing Esau’s rage.
During the time he was with his uncle Laban, God had made Jacob a wealthy man. Jacob was learning to trust in God, especially when he faced circumstances that caused him fear.
The time had come when God told him to go back home. But this is where Esau lived. Jacob followed God, even though he feared for his life. Jacob literally put his life in God’s hands.
Listen to how Jacob comes to God in prayer as he casts his anxiety on God:
“I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.” (Genesis 32:10 ESV).
Say what you want about this man, who had problems and personal character flaws, but we must admire his humility in the eyes of God. Oh, that we all see ourselves this way in God’s eyes.
In his deepest anxiety, Jacob laid it all on the Lord. Rather than disobeying the word of the Lord, he was determined to return home as God instructed him. And so, he prays this to God:
“Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.” (Genesis 32:11 ESV).
This deceiver knew one thing... when he faced danger and the unknown, there was only one place to go for comfort and protection. Despite his character flaws, Jacob gets it right in the matters that really count.
As I start the book of Exodus, I am amazed as I see God’s providence play out in Israel. He looked among the nations and created a people to be His own possession. He started with one old man and created a nation that formed within Egypt.
By the time the book of Exodus begins, Israel had become a mighty nation, just like God promised Abraham. The rest of the world followed after other gods, but Yahweh would make His name known throughout the world through this nation.
In truth, over the next 40 years, God would take these people with Him kicking and screaming. He would provide for them, defend them, and show His glory to them. Yet this new nation would constantly complain and yearn for the days when they lived in a land ruled by idols.
Perhaps the greatest gift God gave the people, aside from His direct providence, was a leader like Moses. Someone trained by Egypty with leadership but one who would be willing to lay down his life for the people.
Through Moses, Exodus declares the glory of God in a manner that makes God’s name known for thousands of years. We’re still making movies today about the things God did in Exodus.
Exodus is about the making of a nation as God’s possession within a world dominated by false gods. There is no better book to read that shows us God’s power, glory, great love, and grace for a people who didn’t deserve it.
“And Pharaoh sent...”
This is an amazing phrase found in Exodus 9:7. This follows the fifth plague of the Egyptian livestock that died.
God said He would strike the Egyptian livestock but leave Israel’s livestock alone. This is precisely what happened. To be sure,
“And Pharaoh sent, and behold, not one of the livestock of Israel was dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.” (Exodus 9:7 ESV).
“And Pharaoh sent...”
Why is this amazing to me? Not only was God able to target His plagues, but God protected His people’s livestock from Pharaoh.
To me, it’s amazing that Pharaoh didn’t confiscate Israel’s livestock to replace theirs that God killed in the plagues when he sent people to see if Israel’s livestock was, indeed, untouched.
God’s providence is often seen in subtle ways in our lives that we may be quick to overlook.
Isn’t it amazing that God can protect us from the evil of others in ways we may never pick up on?
Praise the name of God seen in the little phrase, “And Pharaoh sent...!