“For everything that has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5
Belief here is not just knowledge, but of entrusting oneself to Jesus Christ as Lord. We must continue to do that very thing every minute of every day, and even more intentionally as the days grow more evil.
No matter what this day holds, no matter what or whom we encounter, no matter the circumstances, the surprises, the joys or the hurts, our righteous God is the creator of this day. He has already been here, He knows what it holds, and He has made provision for us through it all. Let us keep that awareness in our hearts as we walk through today (and tomorrow…), holding His hand, praising and trusting Him as we go.
Thank you, Father, for your great, great love towards us!
Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Psalm 27:14
Moses did it for 40 years, and then again for another 40. Joseph did it for 13 years. David did it for 8 years. Jonah did it for 3 days. The Hebrews did it for 430 years. And who knows how long Job did it.
I’ve been doing it for almost 12 years. Maybe you’ve been doing it, too.
All of us have either just gotten through, or we’re going through, or we will soon go through a waiting period. The question is, though, what or whom are we waiting on?
In my particular case, I can easily wait on the right doctor, the right blood test, the right scan, the right procedure, the right medication, and on and on. And I do believe that God uses doctors and medicine to achieve His purposes. But only in His timing.
He is the One I wait on. My healing will come in His way, and in His time. And that healing may not come until I see my Savior face to face, but it will come.
He is my glory, my portion, my all in all.
Moses may well have thought his life in the desert herding sheep would be all the life he’d ever see. But God was preparing him to lead God’s people across the desert.
God was preparing Joseph to lead Egypt, David to be King, and the Hebrews to trust and follow Him into the Promised Land. And God was bringing Job into a deeper, far more intimate relationship with Him than he ever imagined. And I believe God used Job as a witness to his friends and to the people of the town that a righteous man is one who lives by faith in God, not just by the rules he follows. (I would love to know how many people put their faith in God through Job’s amazing testimony.)
The word wait in Psalm 27:14 is qâvâh – to bind together (perhaps by twisting), to collect, to expect, to gather together.
Our wait in the Lord in not sitting and doing nothing. Through it we learn to let go of the world, strand by strand, and bind our spirits to His. We become one with our Savior, and His heart becomes our heart; His will, our will.
As our spirit becomes more and more bound with His, we confidently watch, expectantly look to Him for our salvation in all things. We know that God sees our heart and hears our prayers. We understand that His wait has a purpose. He is preparing us, teaching us, maturing us, and best of all, loving us. Never think that the lack of an immediate answer means God doesn’t love you. Remember Moses and Joseph and David and Jonah and Job and His beloved people who waited in Egypt.
Whatever we wait for on this earth, whether it’s health or relationships or jobs, or for our brothers and sisters in certain parts of world who wait for their release from unjust imprisonment, whether that’s a jail cell or the evil hands of their abusers, or a million other things, all of us who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ wait on Him for our ultimate rescue.
“For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 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. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:19, 22-25
Even the creation groans for the time when sin is a thing of the past and God brings us all into the presence of His glory. We wait, too, but we wait expectantly, patiently, hopefully, knowing that our rescue is near.
And while we wait, while we groan inwardly with creation for all things to be made new and perfect and beautiful, we must hold onto the hope that our waiting here prepares us for our life there. Our wait, and all we’ve gone through, will be worth it as we stand before Jesus and the purpose for it all is suddenly clear, and we share our reward with the Rescuer of our souls.
Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.
Isaiah 64:4
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25
Up until the very moment I was saved, I had always believed two things: that God and satan were equal powers at opposite ends of the spectrum of good and evil, and that abortion was acceptable.
But the second I believed in Christ and was filled with the Holy Spirit, my spiritual eyes were opened and I knew those things I had believed were lies.
In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we have been given a second set of eyes, if you will, that gives us the vision to see, to walk, to know, to trust, in the Spirit. That spiritual vision allows us to see the truth that is Christ, and to walk this journey in the light of God.
We have a choice every day to use only the eyes in our head by feeding our flesh, or to use the spiritual eyes of our hearts by feeding our spirit.
While on the island of Patmos, John wrote that he was in the Spirit as he was given a revelation of Jesus Christ, a vision of Him in all His glory in the heavenly realm. He saw Him dressed in holy robes with a golden sash, eyes blazing like fire, feet like bronze glowing in a furnace, voice like the sound of rushing waters, a face like the sun shining in all its brilliance. He was the One Who had the authority to hold the angels and the churches in his hand, and also the keys of death and Hades.
When John wept because no one was found worthy to break the seals and open the scroll that would unleash the timely events of the future of all things, an elder comforted him with this, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5
When we, too, are walking in the Spirit – praying, worshipping, taking in the Word of God, obeying, forgiving, fellowshipping, loving – our spiritual vision will become clearer, and our foundations stronger. We will see Christ for who He is, high and exalted, with authority over all things. We will believe and experience the depth of His power and love in our lives, along with His wisdom and discernment, and no puny trial will take us down.
It’s easy, though, with all that goes on in our busy lives to forget to feed the spiritual life, and then our dim, human eyesight prevails again, the flesh follows it, and we revert back to seeing and living and believing like the world.
We see (and judge) others by how they look outwardly instead of by the beauty of their souls. We see them through their worldly wealth or poverty instead of by the riches of their inherent value as one made in the image of God. We see them through their sins instead of as people whom Christ died for and who are in need of prayer and a Savior.
John told us that “…anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” 1 John 2:11
We can choose, instead, to see with our spiritual eyes – the vision we’ve been given through the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as we’ll see and know Christ more clearly, we’ll see others through His eyes, the spiritual lens of His grace and mercy and forgiveness.
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
Holy Spirit, please interrupt our busyness and remind us to seek you in all we do. Remind us to stay in prayer about all things at all times; remind us to be thankful; remind us to feed on the bread of your Word; remind us to fellowship with other believers, that we might encourage and be encouraged. Help us to see with the unique vision You give us, to love You, Your people, and even those who consider us their enemies. Help us to walk in You, that we might grow in faith and grace, and not stumble when the enemy comes.Help us to be disciplined to allow Your light to shine through us in this ever-darkening world. Help us to discern Your still, small voice, that we might follow You on our constantly winding journeys, that we might one day hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
In Jesus’ Precious Name, Amen.
Hi Everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know I’m taking a bit of a hiatus. In the meanwhile, I’ll be praying for you, and I’ll still check in, so if anyone has a prayer request just leave me a comment, a private message, an email, a package dropped by drone….. ;O) I’d love to hear from you.
Grace and Abundant Peace,
Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:2-3