Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.
Matthew 28:19-20
Hello friends. I hope you’re having a great Saturday and preparing your heart for what the Lord desires to speak into your heart this weekend.
I heard this song again recently and with all that’s going on in our world, and in my own life, it really touched my heart, and I wanted to share it with you.
The God we serve – the great I AM, the creator of the universe and of you and me, the One who sent His own Son to purchase our souls, and has made a way for our eternity at home with Him – is, always has been, and always will be the King of the world.
No matter what we’re facing today or will face tomorrow, He’s got this, if we’ll just hold it out to Him and ask Him.
May He bless your day, your weekend, and may you see His strong and loving hand in all the things that concern you.
King of the World
by Natalie Grant
I try to fit you in the walls inside my mind
I try to keep you safely in between the lines
I try to put you in the box that I’ve designed
I try to pull you down so we are eye to eye
When did I forget that you’ve always been
The King of the world?
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?
Just a whisper of your voice can tame the seas
So who am I to try to take the lead
Still I run ahead and think I’m strong enough
When you’re the one who made me from the dust
When did I forget that you’ve always been
The King of the world?
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
Oh, you set it all in motion
Every single moment
You brought it all to me
And you’re holding on to me
When did I forget that you’ve always been
The King of the world?
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 you’ve always been
The King of the world
You will always be the King of the world
I took a slow day recently and sat down to watch a movie. So-so movie. Classic good guy chases bad guy.
The bad guy, well, let me put that more accurately – the crazed, psychopathic, sadistic killer – enjoys the chase. He’s cocky and thinks he can’t lose.
He decides to make the game even more fun by coming straight to the door of the good guy, and hits him where it hurts most: his family.
The good guy internalizes that pain, that grief, and lets it boil inside him until the hatred turns to bitterness in his quest to hunt down and destroy his enemy.
In one last-ditch effort to mentally manipulate and control from his place of weakness, the bad guy spews to the other, “I…made…you.”
His last words are arrogant, demented, and maybe a little bit true.
In his quest to fight evil, the good guy gives in to the hatred the evil guy wanted him to. He lured the good guy in until he crossed that line before he even fully realized it. Or worse, he realized it but didn’t care anymore.
As their eyes locked and he used his last breath to try to control him and reel him in the rest of the way, speaking those domineering, pompous, mind-bending words, I thought about how the enemy of God does the same thing.
There are no new tricks up his sleeve. Oh, they may take different forms, different plots, different scenarios, but it’s always the same.
Slip in undetected in the shadows, gain our attention, come to our front doors if need be and attack us personally where he knows it’ll hurt most, and if he can time it just right, in the wake of some other trial, when we’re alone, when we’re tired, when we’re sick, when we’re stressed, maybe we’ll react in the flesh.
And if we react long enough, he’ll try to say he made us. He made who we’ve become, from being filled with anger, to unforgiveness, to bitterness, to leaving our faith and the love of Christ behind.
None of us is immune. Christians are his target, because Christ is his target.
Even if he can no longer take our eternal souls, he will still try to take our joy, our witness, and as much of our reward as he can.
But I don’t want the enemy to shape who I am.
I want to be shaped by the Christ who loved us enough to die for us and fill us with His Spirit so that He’s always with us.
I want to be shaped by the One who loves us enough to write His Word, His will, on pages for us to have, to read, to study and pray over, to hear Him speak to our hearts through.
I want every fiber of my being, every molecule, every thought, every word to be formed by the Christ who lives in me.
That can only happen when day by day, minute by minute, we hold onto Christ, giving up our lives for a life of faith hidden in Him.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
This is the new life we’ve been given in Christ. It is no longer our life, but Christ’s living in and through us. To some that may feel a little restrictive, but in reality it’s just the opposite.
We are now free of that destruction, that condemnation, that guilt and shame of sin, free from having to believe the deluded lies of the enemy. We no longer have to be lured in by the thief whose desire is to steal, kill, and destroy us.
Instead, Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
That word abundant is perissos, which means “in the sense of beyond; superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication excessive; preeminence: – exceeding abundantly above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehemently.”
In sharp contrast to the life Christ redeemed us from, we’re now free to live a life of forgiveness, hope, love, joy. We’re free to live in and through Christ forever.
But notice it says that we may have it more abundantly. It is our daily choice how much of that abundant life of Christ’s we want to live. Within those pages, Jesus gave us this to remember:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23
Daily.
Daily we must deny ourselves, daily we must take up our cross, and daily we must choose to follow Christ if we want to live the abundant life Jesus died to give us.
We may not have a bad guy to physically chase, but in our hearts and minds we can chase the ones who have hurt us by holding onto unforgiveness and anger and letting it turn into bitterness.
Instead, we can leave the bad guys to God and chase after Christ and His love, joy, peace, hope, and forgiveness. We can choose faith in Jesus, and let Him shape us.
Heavenly Father, we choose to forgive those who have hurt us and leave them in your wise and capable hands. Help us deny ourselves, let go of our “old man” and the world’s ways and abide in you daily so we can be transformed into the image of your beautiful Son and live the abundant life you so desire to give us. It’s in Christ we pray, amen.
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you. Thank you for your unending, merciful love that brings healing and goodness into our lives.
Lord, we pray for the body of Christ, for believers whose spiritual walk has been lukewarm, who have allowed themselves to be pulled into the world and the love of things in it, who have been lured into the belief that they have just enough faith to save them, but are missing out all you have for them.
We pray that in your mercy you would open their eyes, soften their hearts, and bring them to repentance and a desire for spiritual things.
We pray our brothers and sisters would be unfulfilled by all the world has to offer, and know that what is missing is you. We pray you would give them a hunger and thirst for righteousness, that they would seek hard after you, and that you would fill them with the peace and joy they long to have.
We pray you would show them the way to true and lasting faith as they give their whole hearts and lives to you.
For those who have believed at one time, but whose hearts have grown cold, LORD, please reveal yourself and show them your desire to love and forgive them, to gather them under your wing and heal their hearts and minds, and to make known to them the plan you have for their lives.
For those who are abiding in you, but maybe there are some areas of their lives they have kept from you, please give your strength and courage to let you have it all. That we would give you our whole hearts, even the hard things, the things we can’t face alone, and face them with you, knowing you are compassionate and full of grace.
Father, help all of us yield our whole selves to you, that we can experience all you have for us, every healing, every blessing, every gift, and every bit of spiritual growth while we have time. And may we be a light, Lord, for the whole world to see how great is your love. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.