Posts Tagged "hope"
Wings of Joy
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
It’s hard to rejoice in the midst of grief. It’s hard to give thanks when you’ve just said goodbye to the one you love, and the pain digs deep in your heart. What kind of God would be so calloused as to demand rejoicing in a time of death, thanks in a time of loss?
Not my God. My God doesn’t demand thanks FOR all circumstances, but invites thanks and rejoicing IN all circumstances, things that come when we face our grief head-on and embrace it, but let His Spirit lift our eyes up beyond this moment to the light of eternity…
Read More
Behind the Curtain
Could it be that it is God Himself who brings about the “winter of our discontent”, the collapse of our joy in the work of our hands?
Is it possible that sometimes He must do this, so as to wrench us away from our myopic concentration on our own perceived ability to please Him? Perhaps it is God, trying actively to change us, as if He were behind the curtain of our life-stage, working to throw off our lines and upset our performance. Perhaps He must do this because He knows that as long as our happiness remains rooted in our own accomplishments, instead of in a single-focused acceptance of His acceptance of us as poor servants, we will never truly be free to find and know either our greatest joy, or our fullest service.
Read More
Forgiveness
“…unless you forgive your brother from your heart…” – Matt. 18:35b
It’s easy to reflexively think of forgiveness as a sort of one-shot deal, where you say some magic words and everything is fixed and fine.
But what about those times when you say the words, but your heart keeps churning afterwards? Does that mean you didn’t really forgive from the heart? Maybe it’s not as simple as that.
If forgiveness was just some set of magic words that fixed everything at once, then would that even be worth anything? To me, “from the heart” implies there is a degree of work involved, and that I must choose to be forgiving of the other person, not just flip some emotional switch. After all, different offenses cause different levels of hurt and carry different consequences, so wouldn’t it make sense that they would also require different levels of forgiveness? I think so.
Read More
Expectation
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.” -Psalm 130:5-6 (ESV)
I walked in to the sanctuary of the large Korean Assemblies of God church and I could feel it in an instant. Thick in the air among the gathered people was a feeling of anticipation, of excitement, of knowing that GOD would show up that morning.
This was not my first time to visit Promise Church in Flushing, NY, and because I had been there before, I had not just a hope, not just a desire, but an expectation that something special would happen that morning. I started to think though, “I’ve been here before but many of these others haven’t. They’ve not heard the choir sing and the band play or seen the dancers dance, so what is this expectation I sense from them?”
Read More
Watch
“O my Strength, I watch for You.” – Psalm 59:9a
Do I watch for the Lord? There is so much said about “waiting” on the God, but sometimes it’s so easy for me to say I’m “waiting on the Lord”, when in reality I’m just sitting on my hands doing nothing, either expecting Him to just show up at some point, or maybe not expecting anything at all. In fact, I think sometimes what I call “waiting on God”… is really just ignoring Him while I do my own thing.
But do I ever watch for God? I read this passage in Psalms and the first thing I think of is sitting at my dining room window, staring out the half-drawn blinds at the empty road outside our house, not just waiting for a special someone to get here, but gazing, straining my eyes to see as far as I can, WATCHING intently for an arrival that I don’t question or merely hope for, but that I know is just around the corner.
You see, waiting can easily become a passive activity, so much so that when God does show up, it can sometimes be a pretty tame thing. But watching… that’s something different entirely. Watching means action. It means focus. It means anticipation and excitement such that when the Lord arrives, we respond wholeheartedly because, “He’s here! He’s here! I knew He was coming and He’s finally arrived!” and that is the kind of reception that warms a father’s heart.
Now, does our intent, expectant, active watching make God move or show up any faster? Most of the time probably not. But you know what it does do? It makes sure we’re ready to act when He comes. Think about Jesus’ story about the ten virgins waiting to take part in a Jewish wedding ceremony. Five were ready to go the moment the bridegroom showed up, and five weren’t. Did the preparation and alertness of the five ready ones make the bridegroom show up any sooner? No, but they were the only ones that got to come along for the feast.
I wonder how many times we’ve been waiting on the Lord and felt like we got no answers, not because He didn’t come, but because we weren’t paying attention when He did…
Finally, I think there is something else important that we miss when we wait, but don’t watch. You see, when we watch, we aren’t just making sure we don’t miss God showing up, but we’re making sure our hearts are ready to receive and respond to Him all the way. Here’s what I mean. Oftentimes people who drive horses will give them blinders. It’s a simple concept, block out the distractions around the horse so it can focus on what really matters. Focus. That’s the beauty of watching for God. Just like staring at the road outside my house keeps me from getting distracted by all the things around me and keeps me dwelling on the awaited arrival, when I am really watching for the Lord, He is my focus. In fact, when He is my focus such that I exclude the distractions around me, that’s when my heart gets the most ready, the most excited, and I believe that is what pleases Him most of all.
Be ready. Be focused. Have faith my soul, and WATCH for the Lord!
Phillip Gonzales
1/29/07
Read More
Get updates via RSS
Follow me on Twitter
Send me an e-mail
Subscribe with iTunes