What God’s Doing – God’s Plans are Greater

At church this morning, among other things, we talked about the demon-possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes. (Mark 5 and Luke 8)

This tortured man had been staying in the tombs among the dead. The demons that inhabited his body had such incredible strength and power that even though the man would be chained and his feet shackled in irons, the demons broke free. “Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.” (Mark 5:5) What a horrifying existence. I can imagine he thought he would never be free of this hellish nightmare.

Jesus and his apostles landed there after a treacherous trip across the Sea of Galilee. Though the man probably didn’t know who Jesus was, the demons did, and the tortured man ran, fell on his knees before Jesus, and worshipped Him.

Jesus called out the impure spirit, who called itself Legion because there were many demons in control of the man. The demons had to obey and Jesus granted their request to be sent into a herd of pigs nearby.

I can’t imagine the relief of being restored to the land of the living. Well, in a much less dramatic way, I can.

The Bible says the man was now dressed and in his right mind. Jesus and his friends were now getting back in the boat.

It would seem Jesus had gone to this region for the sole purpose of freeing this man from the demons who’d had him bound. But why?

The man begged to go with Jesus. After all, he owed Him his life. But Jesus said no. He told him to “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” (Mark 5:19) 

So the man returned to Decapolis and began telling people his story of the miracle done for him, and about the Lord Jesus who’d done it.   

We’re all called to different ministries. Some are meant to serve in one way, and others in a different way. The way we’re called to serve may not be our first choice, and there may be different reasons for that. But God has a plan. He sees the Big Picture, the beginning from the end. He sees the choices we’ll make, the illnesses we’ll have, the circumstances we’ll find ourselves in, but His plans will not be thwarted.

There were a lot of things I wanted to do for God. I was filled with dreams of serving Him in certain ways. Some I was able to, but many more I wasn’t. I had one obstacle after another and even though I still tried, circumstances kept getting worse and I had to give up those dreams. So I began to write. And maybe that was God’s plan all along.

I may not have been demon-possessed, but I was sure chased down by some early in life and drawn into some things that only Jesus could have delivered me from. God used today’s teaching to speak to my heart and remind me of this powerful testimony and that He has a plan to use it, to be content with where He has me, and even joyful at the prospect of His plans for me. I’m still here so who knows what He has planned for the future.

When we give our lives to God, His plan for us will be even better than what we might have chosen for ourselves, and He’ll fulfill not only His plan for us, but for the Big Picture, one that’s greater than any of us knows or can see.

At the time, Decapolis was comprised of ten Greek cities.

One of them was Damascus, where Saul would later be headed to persecute Christians before Jesus knocked him to the ground and called him. Saul, the man we now know as Paul the apostle, continued on to Damascus where a disciple named Ananias was called by the Lord to restore Paul’s sight and take him to the other disciples there. Here is where Paul began his ministry, preaching in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. And of course Paul went on to write at least 13 books included in the New Testament.

Another city within Decapolis was Philadelphia, one of the churches written about in Revelation to whom Jesus sent a message through John acknowledging His love for them.

The formerly-demon-possessed man with an extraordinary testimony wanted to go with Jesus to serve alongside Him, but Jesus wanted to use him in a different, even greater capacity – to go and give his testimony, spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ around Decapolis, planting seeds for future harvest.

What’s God speaking into your heart?


PS – If you need prayer, please let me know.

 

Heavenly Father, wherever you have us right now, if it’s not our first choice, may we not be discouraged. We trust you have a plan for our lives, one you’ve had from the very beginning. May we be filled to overflowing with your Holy Spirit that we might be fruitful, and with hope and joy at the prospect. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

What God’s Doing – Joy, Peace, and Hope are Possible

I thought it would be fun to start a new Sunday thing where we share what God’s speaking into our hearts through the teaching we heard at church or in our own studies.

It’s so good to encourage each other, reinforcing those lessons and convictions, and cheer each other on as He heals us along the way.

This morning, after celebrating what God’s done in the last few years to enlarge our church, first the building, which made room for new people, (yay, God!), our pastor’s teaching centered around these words of Paul:

 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

I don’t know about you, but sometimes joy, peace, and hope can seem hard to come by. The fires of trial and suffering just want to suck those right out of you.

BUT, “by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

That word power is no wimpy power. In the Greek it is dunamis, where we get our word dynamite. It means force, miraculous power (by implication a miracle itself), ability, abundance, meaning, might, strength, violence (as in the violence or fury quenched by our brothers and sisters in Hebrews 11:34).

God wants to do so much in and through us, and if we continue abiding in Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit, and keep on praying continually – about EVERYTHING, at ALL TIMES! – and praise Him through the fire, we WILL walk through the valleys with that deep down miraculous joy of our salvation, know His peace, and have hope.

What greater testimony is there to an unbeliever, or even a struggling believer, than to walk through the flames with inexplicable joy and peace.

I needed that. And if you do, too, I hope it encourages you to remember God is ready, willing, and able to give us everything we need to walk in victory. Just hang on.

Now, what is God speaking into your heart?

PS – If you need prayer, please let me know.

 

Heavenly Father, help us keep our eyes off the flames and onto You. And we ask, in your perfect timing, when the flames have done their job and burned off the dross, we ask that you would quench them and bring times of refreshing. In the meantime, as we hold onto Jesus, we pray for a generous measure of the miraculous joy, peace, and hope that only you can give. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Another Trial?

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

 

Christmas in July

As we’re in the Christmas-in-July mode, and just in time for a few clouds that have blessedly rolled in as a tiny hint that this insanely hot weather will soon give way to Fall and the Christmas season, I want to share a treasured book with you.

It’s a collection of 49 inspiring Christmas stories, including mine, put together and published by the administrators of an online Christian writing group called Christian Writers for Life. 

The personal short stories in Discovering Again the Gift of Christmas tell of homecomings, salvations, miracles, and many other joys at Christmastime and are sure to bring a nostalgia for Christmas past and hope for our future in the One who gave us the reason for celebrating.

Perfect as a Christmas gift or coffee table book for the Christmas season.

Click on the picture to the right, or at the bottom, depending on which device you’re reading this, to go to the Amazon page.

 

Merry Christmas!

Dorci

Sunday Praise and a Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, there is nothing so important in this life than to praise you for all you are, all you’ve done, and all you will do. Our praise begins and ends with you for your love, your forgiveness, and your faithfulness and goodness toward us. There is nothing we could ever do to deserve it, but the sacrifice of your Son paved the way for us to receive it, and the indwelling of your Holy Spirit generously portions it to us.

We are in awe that you would do this for us.

Father, you are the Great Gardener, and we thank you for tilling the soil of our hearts that we could receive the Word of Truth and believe in Christ, for the softening of our hearts when we allow the world and our own sin to harden them, and that you might continually plant new seeds of truth, watering them, growing them, producing in us fruits of righteousness, peace, and joy, and bringing our faith to maturity as only You can.

Help us to be diligent to continually abide in the Vine so you’re free to do in and through us all you have planned that we might bring forth a harvest that glorifies You. 

In Jesus’ Name we pray, amen. 

 

 

 

A Taste of Heaven

With every passing year (week? day?), every hurdle I face, every body part that breaks down, every headline I thought I’d never see, I find myself longing more and more for my heavenly home.

This world holds less of what I want, but heaven…the home of my LORD, my Savior, my Friend…that is where my heart is. And I know I’m not alone.

 

“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.”

Romans 8:22-24

Ah, childbirth. In those moments of some of the most intense, blinding, delirium-inducing pain I’ve ever had, I never thought I’d be able to look back and smile. Even chuckle. I barely remember the pain now, but oh, the tremendous blessing I received afterward – now that I remember, and am still blessed with today.

And I can say yes, it was all worth it. The morning sickness, the cravings, the water retention, the back pain, all worth it. I can even cherish it now knowing the beauty that came from it.

And yes, no matter the pain in this life, it’ll all be worth it someday. The day will come when not only our adoption is complete, but we’ll see how the Lord used the trials in this life to mature our faith, to grow us closer to Him, and to receive those treasures we’ve laid up there, treasures greater than we can ever imagine.

For now, we continue to groan inwardly, to wait, patiently, for our time to come. There is a way, though, to experience a taste right now of the future reward for our labor.

Call up an old friend, a brother or sister in the Lord you haven’t seen in while, and invite him or her to lunch, dinner, coffee.

Laugh over old times, eagerly share what’s happened in your lives, how the Lord’s been faithful to always be there in the tough times, and what He’s taught you along the way.

As your heart is filled with the joy of the reunion, let it be a reminder of joy we’ll experience at the great feast in heaven as we join untold numbers of loved ones, those we sorely miss and those we have yet to meet, with our King at the head, and rejoice forever.

Until then, let us hold onto our Hope.

Sunday Praise and a Prayer

 

Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you today and praise your mighty name. Even though we don’t always understand what you’re doing in our lives, maybe even rarely, we know you have a plan and you’re working everything together for the good of those who love you and are called according to your purposes. You do everything well. 

Thank you for giving us a sense of humor to help lighten those heavy loads, to bring some cheerfulness to those dark days. Things can get pretty crazy, as you know, and you knew we’d need a way to bring a smile to our face. We’re so thankful for the amazingly thoughtful Father you are.

We praise You because we are fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, we know that full well. (Psalm 139:14)

Lord, help us to always remember and be grateful for the beautiful and complex way you’ve created us, and most of all, that you created us in your image. Only by your creative and thoughtful hand could that be accomplished, and we give you all the praise and honor and glory. 

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

Do You Believe This?

 

“Jesus said… ‘I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; 
and whoever lives and believes in Me
will never die. 

 

 

Do you believe this?'”
John 11:25-26


Heavenly Father, we are in awe of the love, grace, and mercy you’ve shown to us through Christ’s death and resurrection, His victory over death, and ours. May we fix our eyes on you each day that we may know the power of Christ’s resurrection living and working in us, sustaining us, sanctifying us, transforming us into His glorious image. May we overflow every day with the same joy that filled the disciples that glorious, triumphant morning. In Christ’s precious name we pray, amen. 

Happy Resurrection Day!

If you’re reading this and you haven’t yet believed that Jesus is who He said He is-the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God sent to die as payment for your sins, that He is indeed God, and you have questions, please feel free to email me or message me on my Facebook page at the links to the right or at the bottom (depending on how you’re viewing this). 

In Christ’s love,
Dorci

 

For the Joy Set Before Him

 

Though innocent, He endured it all to do His Father’s will, standing in an impossibly large gap, taking on the debts of our blackest sins with His own death, a death on a cross, and reconciled us to God. 

That joy set before Him was you and me. 

 

Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy
that was set before Him
endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and is set down
at the right hand
of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Hosanna!

The God of Israel had just rescued His people from their mighty enemies through a parted sea on dry ground. Dry ground. They didn’t have to wade through a little bit of water or even slog through mud. God provided a red carpet toward the Promised Land.

Days later, they camped near some springs of water and seventy palm trees. (Countless studies could be done on the significance of the number 70 in God’s Word.)

Not too long after, God ordained certain holy days to be celebrated every year, one of them being the Festival, or Feast of Tabernacles.  During the seven days this feast was observed, the Israelites were to live in tents, or tabernacles, made from the leaves of various trees, including palm trees, as a celebration and remembrance of the Lord’s deliverance and provision in the desert.

Because this joyful holiday had been celebrated generation after generation, palm leaves became a symbol of victory, triumph, and faithfulness.

So when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just before Passover, the crowds who had gathered there, recognizing Jesus as their savior (although their idea of what He was there to do would be vastly different), it was only right that they cut down palm branches to welcome Him.

“On the next day, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, a great crowd who had come to the Feast took the branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And they cried,

‘Hosanna (oh save)! 
Blessed is the King of Israel
who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

John 12:12-13

He did indeed come to save us, but in an even much greater way than they thought. He didn’t come to only save us from a cruel and unjust government, but to save us from ourselves, from our own sins that would have brought a certain death to our souls in this life and an eternal one in the next.

The next time the apostle John would give us a look at the significance of palm leaves would be as he was given a glimpse into heaven.

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

‘Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.’

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

‘Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!’”
Revelation 7:9-12

 

 


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