Posts by Dorci

So Much More to be Thankful For

Posted on by Dorci

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100

 

Yes, we have much to be thankful for.  We can all look around and see the many ways we’re blessed.  But as God’s children, we have so much more.  Right now we still most easily see with our eyes, but God knows that the temporary things of this life will leave us wanting, and so He continually invites us to see with our hearts.

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Cor. 5:7  “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  Hebrews 11:1

And what we do not yet see is all God is building for us, inside our hearts and souls, and inside His kingdom that is to come – our future and forever home with Him.

No matter what’s going on in our lives right now – the pain, the heartache, the sickness, the missing of our loved ones – by God’s Spirit we can choose to see with the eyes of our hearts all God has done, is doing, and will continue to do. 

Through our struggles God draws near to us, and calls us to draw nearer to Him.  He speaks to us in our pain; He loves us in our sickness, comforts us in our grief, and has filled us with a deep and lasting joy nothing can take way.  Through it all He builds a powerful faith on the foundation of Christ that will bring us a future reward we can only dream of, for now. Those are the true blessings so easily overlooked, yet will bring us a future reward that will outshine anything we can see with our eyes.  

We can join as one voice with our brothers and sisters in Christ and look up.  Shout for joy to the Lord for His magnificent love He’s showered on us, for sending His Son to die in our place, for filling us with His Spirit to comfort us, minister to us, heal and restore us, lead us, give us wisdom and peace, and to give us gifts to use to bless the Body. 

To preserve us until the day we see the Lord face to face, and to be filled with the hope that He’s prepared for us a home with Him where we will live in peace and safety with no end.

We can enter into worship with thanksgiving, not just for the things we see, but for the riches we have in Christ, both now and waiting for us.

God’s made us His own and called us His children, and we know that “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

Nothing on earth compares to that, and for that we can truly give thanks.

What are you thankful for?

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 Dependence

Posted on by Dorci

“During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven…”  Daniel 2:19

 

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you.  We praise you for who you are, for your unending love and wisdom which you have freely shared with us through your Word, and that you continue to give us as we seek you with all of our heart.  Lord, no matter what we’re going through right now, whether it’s a matter of life or death, or simply getting through another day, may we never be so arrogant and prideful to think to ourselves, “I’ve got this.”  May we continually lean you on, depend on you for wisdom and direction every moment of every day. You are our God, our Lord, and you’ve been so gracious to fill us with your Holy Spirit to continually minister to us, lead us, teach us, and comfort us. Help us turn down the sound of our world and of our own voices.  Anoint the ears of our hearts so that we may be attuned to Him, and grow accustomed to the sound of His voice speaking to us in that still, small way.  Give us the courage and strength to turn left when He says to turn left, to be still when he says to be still. May we obey you in all things, our Lord and Savior.   In the mighty and precious name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Nice Try, Sheldon

Posted on by Dorci

Every once in a while you hear someone say they don’t believe in God or the Bible because, they say, the Bible has contradictions.  Most people would probably be hard-pressed to actually name one, but as I watched an episode of Young Sheldon – the television show about a budding scientist and atheist who is forever exasperating his Christian mother by raising his hand in the middle of church to ask the pastor a question – he asked one particular question I thought was intriguing and I took it as a challenge.

 

In the middle of the service, Pastor Jeff quotes Jacob in Genesis 32:30, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

Sheldon immediately turns to his mother and says in all his precociousness, “Is this an appropriate time to mention that John 1:18 says, ‘No man hath seen God at any time.’ Who’s right? Jacob or John?”

 

Hm.  Who is right?

So I started with Genesis, jumped to the beginning of chapter 32 and read to the end of it. There’s a lot going on in these verses, so I’ll keep my answer focused on the immediate action Pastor Jeff quoted.

Jacob is on his way to meet up with his brother Esau, and he’s a little freaked out. It’s nighttime and he’s alone, when suddenly a Man appears and wrestles with Jacob until dawn.  After refusing to let the Man go until He blesses him, which He does, “Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (meaning Face of God): ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.'”

Then I flipped over to the book of John, chapter 1. John begins by describing the God/Man Jesus – the Word, the Logos, or expression of the Father – that He was in the beginning, that He was with God, and that He was God.  He goes on to describe the deity of the Man, Jesus Christ, that He is the Light born into this world by the will of God.

And then John goes on to say “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”

Of course Jacob and John are both right.

Jacob saw God in the form of a Man.  In fact he wrestled with Him all night.  (Ever wrestled with God in prayer?)  Jacob was able to handle seeing and dealing with God in this humbled form covered by flesh.

So when John says no one has seen God at any time, he is saying no one has seen the full glory of the Almighty God (but the Son has shown Him to us).

Even Moses was only allowed to see the back of God.

There have been many times I’ve casually read a portion of scripture that seemed to make no sense at all.  It didn’t line up with my preconceived idea of who God is, or it seemed to contradict another part of scripture.  By now though I know the Bible isn’t wrong. I am. 100% of the time.

Because I don’t understand it just means my mind is smaller than God’s. Any god whose mind is no bigger than mine is no God at all. And yet the grace of God has revealed Himself to us in His Son. 

Because our human understanding is limited, it takes the Spirit of God to interpret His Word and give us understanding.  I know that if I pray for wisdom, and really dig into God’s Word, study it and learn what it actually means, I’ll discover the Bible is never contradictory.  Not even between the Old Testament and the New. God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  His Word is unerring and perfectly compatible with itself.

And by studying it my understanding of God grows, and so does my love for Him.

If you are reading this and you’ve kept your distance from God because you’ve heard the Bible has contradictions, maybe you even have something in particular in mind you believe is a contradiction, I encourage you to read it for yourself.  Seek out someone you believe might have the answer, or can dig into God’s Word with you to discover the truth.  There’s a website, Got Questions, that allows you to submit questions and also has a large archive of past articles.  And I’d be willing to give any questions you have a shot.

And for us who are believers, let’s keep studying God’s Word, or maybe we need to start.  There is a lot of teaching out there that is very unscriptural, even among some who seem to have authority, and we need to have a solid understanding of God’s Word, and discernment, so the enemy doesn’t deceive us, leading us to believe things about God that aren’t true, causing disillusionment and drawing us away from Him.

Let us emulate our Berean brothers and sisters, who were “of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”  Acts 17:10-11 

There are a lot of treasures in there to uncover.

Happy studying,

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for Wise Building

Posted on by Dorci

“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord:
‘He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.’
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord,
because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.” Ezra 3:11

 

Heavenly Father, we praise you. We praise you because you’ve laid the foundation of our salvation, which is Jesus Christ, and you’ve made us the temple of your Holy Spirit. Lord, I simply ask you today to help us keep our hearts and spirits focused on you. With all the distractions we have coming at us from so many directions, help us keep The Main Thing, the main thing.

Help us remember that this life is about Who you’ve called us to believe in, to trust, to follow, to proclaim. Help us use the limited time and the gifts you’ve given us to be about our Father’s business, and build only on the foundation of Jesus Christ, serving Him only, building by your Spirit and not our flesh.

For “If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.”  1 Cor. 3: 12-15

Lead us, Lord, so that what we build will survive, and we will receive your reward. In Jesus’ eternal name we pray, amen.