Tag: glory

In the Fire

Posted on by Dorci

The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and His ears are attentive to their cry;

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
He delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:15a,17,18


I’ve heard so many stories the last couple of years from people who have gone through some extraordinarily difficult times, and of course I’ve faced times like that, too.

Times so painful I’ve wondered where God was. I’ve been brought to the place where my prayers were simply, “God, do You see me? Do You even care? Maybe we’ve all wondered that at one time or another.

Just recently I was reminded of a time a long time ago when I was raising my little boys.  (Funny how that seems like a lifetime ago and at the same time like it was just yesterday. Well, maybe last week.)

Some kind of illness was going around. My kids had just gotten over something not too long before and I just couldn’t take the thought of them being sick and miserable all over again so soon. I loved them too much.

So I prayed and asked God if one of us had to be sick then let it be me, not them. And that was one prayer He graciously and mercifully answered. Yes, I was sick for a little bit, but my sons didn’t have to suffer again so soon and I was thankful.

As the memory of that time came to mind, the Lord impressed on my heart that if I, being such an incredibly flawed parent and human being, could have that much compassion for my children, how much more compassion and love does He have for His children when they suffer?

Jesus wept with Mary and Martha as Lazarus lay in the grave even though He knew in five minutes he’d walk out, as alive as ever, and there would be tears of joy and hugs and celebrating. (Can you just imagine the party they had that night?)

Yes, He took a while in coming back to them, but He had reason to. Obvious reasons like, He wanted to grow their faith; He wanted the opportunity to perform this miracle in front of all of them, and I’m sure reasons we may never know.

And yes, it may seem like He’s taking a long time to answer our prayers, too, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t hear our prayers, or that He doesn’t know what we’re going through, or that He doesn’t care.

It doesn’t mean He’s not right there with us in the fire, like He was with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (I wonder if they even knew He was with them amidst the flames); like He was with Job in his intense suffering; like He was with Hagar in the wilderness, like He was with Joseph when he was sold into slavery; and like He was with the Israelites as they crossed the desert for forty years.

Matthew even tells us “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’).”
Matthew 1:23

He doesn’t stand far off. He is right there, suffering with us, having more love and compassion than I could ever comprehend, doing a great, eternal work in our hearts, and using those trials to bring Him great glory, the salvation of souls for some and the deepening of the faith of others.

He has so much love that He couldn’t bear to watch us suffer eternally, so He took on our sin-sickness and our place on the cross; He took on Himself the pain and misery that would have been ours, and kept us from an eternal death.

But He didn’t stop there. When we believed in Him He filled us with His Holy Spirit, whom He called the Comforter, who is with us, who lives in us, at all times, through all our trials and pain, no matter what.


How has God been with you in your trials?


Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for your all-consuming love and grace and mercy. Thank you for your promise to never leave us or forsake us. When we are facing a fiery trial, help us to stay in communication with you, to remember that you are with us in it, and that you’ll use our faith in the fire to draw us ever closer to you and to bring you great glory. There is no higher calling in this life. In Jesus’ precious and holy name I pray, amen.

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What God’s Doing – Cementing

Posted on by Dorci

The last year and a half have been something else. It’s been a long journey slogging through marshes, dark, creepy forests full of eyes glowing in the dark, deep shark-infested waters, rocky, steep exhausting climbs and riding avalanches down the other side. And that’s on top of an exhausting three years, on top of an excruciatingly painful fifteen years, and so on and so forth. 

Up until the last year and a half, I handled the stresses pretty well; not perfectly of course, but I’ve held on to Jesus through it. But this last trial has been different. It’s a long story in itself, but suffice it to say it came just as I felt I was finally coming back from the stroke, and it came on with vengeance. One thing after another, after another, after another…

I’ve prayed my heart out until I’m blue in the face. I’ve been worried, upset, frustrated, at the end of my rope. And yes, I’ve gotten angry. I’ve lobbed up those prayers we sometimes pray when we feel up against a brick wall – “Why God? Why more? Haven’t I had enough?!” And there have been days I’ve wondered what was the point. Why keep praying? Why keep trusting? 

Then this morning at church we sang a song that reminded me of a truth Peter spoke as many around them started to become disillusioned with Jesus and walk away. 

Jesus asked the Twelve “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

“Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'” (John 6:67-68a)

It seems not only in my life, but in the lives of so many others, the trials and suffering of all kinds is ramping up. The time to Jesus’ return gets closer every day, and God is preparing us. God is cementing our faith in Him and giving us a strength we’ve never known before. 

Yes, the journey can be confusing, frustrating, painful, and some days it can be downright maddening. It can creep up on you like a riptide and threaten to carry you away. I know.

But keep holding onto Christ. Keep telling Him how you feel. He can handle it, and He wants to help you through it. It is His grace and mercy that He disciplines us, His children, to mature us. There is no where else to go where we can find the eternal truths found in Christ, no where else we can find the kind of pure, genuine and lasting love He has for us. No where else we can go to find His peace, His joy, His hope. 

Let’s let Him cement our faith in the way He knows we need so it will be absolutely unshakeable, in the way that will bring Him glory upon glory, and take us into the Promised Land where our reward awaits with Him. Oh, what a glorious day. 

Please, if you need prayer, I’m here. You can leave a comment or email me. 

For His glory, 

Dorci
<*)))><

 

Heavenly Father, I lift up each person reading this. May you hold them tight and comfort them as they each walk their journeys, identifying with Jesus in His suffering. May you bring much good out of it – a strong faith, godly character, obedience, perseverance, wisdom, the salvation of souls around them, and the spreading of your love far and wide. I pray it all in the precious name of our Lord Jesus, amen. 

A Far Greater Glory

Posted on by Dorci

 

I sat listening again to a teaching about the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Crowds surrounded him waving palm branches and laying their coats on the ground before him as a grand gesture of acknowledging him as their king. All around him came shouts of adoration, proclaiming “Oh save!”

“Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

They couldn’t contain their jubilation, and their excitement was heard far and wide.

Their king had finally come and he would set up his kingdom and make all things right.

My mind couldn’t help but jump ahead to what I knew they’d be facing near the end of the week. Their gleeful expectations would be turned upside down. Their hopes and dreams would be dashed, their hearts broken. In my mind and heart I stood with them in grief on that Friday as they watched their king being arrested and beaten beyond recognition.

They wanted their lives to be made right here and now, but they wouldn’t be, and I understood that frustration. Like them, I have been desperate for solutions and when those solutions didn’t come as quickly as I wanted, or at all, a part of me became disillusioned.

I knew what it meant to have certain expectations, certain hopes as I lifted up prayers to my King, month after month after month, sometimes year after year, and see many of those prayers go unanswered. I understood just a little bit of that devastation at not receiving what I wanted, what I needed, or, what I thought I needed.

Their disappointment would cause them to assume He wasn’t at all who He said He was, and in just days, that, and the prompting of the chief priests, would lead at least some of them to change their shouts from “Hosanna!” to “Crucify him!”

I felt a sorrow for them I’d never quite felt before. Oh, if they only knew.

They saw Him die, buried, and they returned to their homes and lives the way they’d always been. No King, no kingdom. I couldn’t help but grieve with them.

On the third day, as they sat in their grief, the one in whom they’d placed all their hopes, the one who’d been wrapped in burial cloths and secured in a tomb behind a large stone with guards securing it, would surprisingly, miraculously, joyously be raised to life and the stone rolled away. I can just picture the smile on His face as He waited to surprise them all. He showed Himself first to the disciples, and then to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time.

He’d be with them over the next forty days, speaking to them about the far greater salvation of their souls, their freedom from sin and the healing of their hearts. He’d tell them of the kingdom of God where He was going to prepare a place just for them and all who would believe in Him to live with Him forever.

Of course He wouldn’t leave them alone, though. He’d send His Holy Spirit to fill them with power, with love and boldness, strength and courage, peace and joy.

No, His earthly kingdom would not yet come, and they would still live with all kinds of hardship, sickness, and much persecution, but He had for them, and for us, a far greater way.

They’d shouted to be saved, but their desires were only for this life. God had so much more in store.




“Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way,
which makes us right with God!”
2 Corinthians 3:8-9

Just as Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior, had far greater plans for them, He does for me and for you.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, 
who has been given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5

Yes, in this life we will still face trials of all kinds, but we can glory in them knowing He’ll be with us every step of the way, strengthening us, giving us courage and wisdom, making us into the very image of Christ as He prepares us for our eternal home. In His wisdom He’s using it all for His glory in ways we cannot begin to imagine, and that is call for joy.

May we keep the faith in the One who loves us, and at the end of our very short lives here, may we, too, say –


“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:7-9

The Sacrifice of Praise

Posted on by Dorci

 

Well hello there. You might have noticed I’ve been mostly absent the past year. I’ve been dealing with more health issues than I can tell you, and I’m still trudging through it all. It would be easy for me to say it was a wasted year, but in God’s hands I know nothing is wasted. Sometimes the Lord calls us to go with Him outside the camp, outside the comforts we know, die to ourselves and share in His sufferings so that even in the middle of the pain, the grief, the suffering, we will come to know He is still good and faithful and worthy and offer our Great High Priest a sacrifice of eternal praise.

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.”
Hebrews 13:11-15

I don’t understand it all, but God does. Instead of trying to explain it, I thought I’d let Brandon Lake say it for me.

May the Lord bless you all with enduring faith.

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Hard Fought Hallelujah
by Brandon Lake

Yeah, I don’t always feel it
Yeah, but that’s when I need it the most
So, I’ma keep on singing
‘Til my soul catches up with my song

There’s times when my hands go up freely
And times that it costs, oh-oh
There’s days when a praise comes out easy
Days when it takes all the strength I got

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (ooh, ooh)
And I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, oh
‘Cause God, You’ve been patient
God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
So I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, whoa-oh
Hallelujah (ooh, ooh), hallelujah

I’ve wrestled with the darkness
But I’m tryin’ to reach for the light
Yeah, the struggle keeps me honest
And it breaks down the walls of my pride

‘Cause faith isn’t proven like gold
‘Til it’s been through the fire, eh-eh
My head, heart, and hands are feeling heavy
But that’s when I lift them just a little higher

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (ooh, ooh)
I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You’ve been patient
God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah, oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah (ah, ah, ah, ah, ah)

I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt
Been-through-hell hallelujah (hallelujah)
I’ll bring my storm-tossed, torn-sail
Story-to-tell hallelujah, whoa-oh
God, You’ve been patient
And God, You’ve been gracious
Faithful, whatever I’m feeling or facing
I’ll bring my hard-fought, heartfelt, it-is-well hallelujah (ooh)
Oh, hallelujah (mm, eh-ah, eh)
Hallelujah

Oh-oh, oh, oh-oh-oh
Hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-
Halle-, mm-mm
Hallelujah

 

Sunday Praise and a Prayer for God’s Glory

Posted on by Dorci

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
John 21:25

 

People photo created by jcomp – www.freepik.com

Dear Heavenly Father, we praise your holy Name. You are salvation, and all power and glory and majesty are yours. May we never stop singing your praises, our Abba, our Adonai, our Immanuel.

Even in my own life, I feel these words of your servant John are true. You have saved me, protected me, provided for me, blessed me, and done more for me than I could ever fully express, or even know myself.

Thank you for all you’ve done, all you are doing, and all you will do for your children, to care for us and mature us until we meet with you face to face. May your light ever shine through us, and may the words of our testimony always be seasoned with salt.

May we remember your amazing grace and mercy, especially during times of trial.  When we can’t understand, may we lean on your understanding, on your eternal plans, which are far greater than we could ever fully grasp.

May you always be our life, our hope, our peace, our constant presence.  May we get rid of those things, those bad habits, the ungodly attitudes, anything that could keep us from being filled to overflowing with your Holy Spirit who will mature us and enable us to do all you have for us.

Father, the world so desperately needs you. Use us for your glory. We desire to bear orchards and orchards of fruit and lay up our treasures in heaven. May you make it so.

In the glorious name of Jesus, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Friend, amen.