It’s time for a rest…

And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ –Acts 26:14

God’s been telling me to give up writing on this blog for a while and I’ve been resisting.  I’ve felt some sort of obligation like I need it or something.  But I don’t and in trying to keep writing posts I’m just kicking against the goads.  It hasn’t been working.  Every time I sit down to write I think I have something to say and then boom.. blockage.  And it’s not blockage from the enemy.  It’s lack of grace blockage.  It’s Jonah trying to escape from going to Nineveh blockage.  So without any further disobedience I’m giving the blog a rest to see what else the Lord has for me in this season.    I’ll be back at some point.  Maybe in a couple months or as little as a couple weeks?   Either way God is good all the time!  He loves you all the time!  And He is speaking all the time!

Much love to you all,

-Justin

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’

 

From Pride to Praise

From Pride to Praise

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above… -James 1:17

Since coming to Christ a big thing God has been teaching me is humility. The Bible tells us again and again that God wants us to be humble.

Does this mean we have to walk around thinking we never do anything right and that everyone else is doing life better than us?

No! I think some people have misunderstood humility. Humility does not mean low self esteem! Esteem means worth or value, and you are very valuable to God. Because of this truth you should hold yourself valuable. You need to know that you were created with a purpose. You are valuable to the Kingdom!

Humility is understanding where your value comes from. Humility is turning pride into praise. It’s realizing that every good and perfect thing you can do is a gift from God and would not be possible without Him.

For instance:

To be humble I do not have to think I’m a terrible writer, but rather I praise God for giving me the ability to express myself, and I thank Him for giving me something worth writing about! I thank Him for speaking through me and motivating me to write what He has taught me.

To be humble I do not have to think I’m a terrible musician, but I thank God for giving me the gift of musicianship. I look for opportunities to use my gift in worship of Him to bless Him and serve the body.

You see pride is stealing praise from God. So the next time you do something well, praise God for making you and giving you that gift or talent. Ask Him how your gift could be used for the Kingdom.

Glory to God!

He who humbles himself will be exalted. -Matthew 23:12

You are so certain in your heart!

“You are so certain in your heart—whether you can actually live that out sometimes or not—in your heart there is a strong yes!”

This prophetic word was spoken to me a while back and it has really stuck with me because I have come to realize that my heart is completely the Lord’s.  My heart knows God!  My heart has a personal relationship with Jesus.  It is my intellect I have to continually reason with.  My own understanding stirs doubts while trying to sort out the ways of an infinite Creator, but in my heart there is a strong yes!

It is an amazing place we go to when we trust the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).  David was there when he wrote Psalm 131:

Lord, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.
Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever. 

So now I pass this word on to you:

You are so certain in your heart! Though times have been tough, keep trusting in the Lord through this season.  He is bringing you into a new level of humility that will also bring you into a deeper revelation of His love, grace and peace! Keep leaning on the Lord and He will take you there.

Related articles

• Psalm 138. A Prayer Of Thanksgiving (bummyla.wordpress.com)
• The Lord has a different view on things (myjourneythroughchronicfatigue.com)
• Cheerful in The Lord (barrysr22.wordpress.com)
• Congruity: Moses, Jesus, and Paul on Life’s Purpose (wadleystheology.wordpress.com)

Trust Past Understanding

There are some books in the Bible that I’ll read and think, “Well, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me right now.” What’s interesting though is how at a different point in my life I may return to that same part of scripture and go, “Ooh, now I see!”

Sometimes we understand things and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we think we understand things and then later realize we really did not… and many times still don’t. Being a disciple of Christ is not about having all the answers. It’s about trusting in God through the unknown. It’s about having a peace that surpasses our understanding.

Remain humble servants of God! Remain humble.

Fear the Lord and gain faith that overcomes the fear of man and the world.

Who Among Us?

“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil: He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure. Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see the land that is very far off. -Isaiah 33:14-17

The Lord spoke this to me and I thought:

“Who? Who is worthy enough that walks righteously? Who despises the gain of oppression? Who shuts their eyes from evil? Who of man has a heart pure enough to see God?”

I pondered these questions and thought:

“Will I ever be there Lord?”

That’s when He told me:

“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” -John 15:3

It’s still hard for me to accept. That Jesus died for me. It makes no sense. I don’t deserve Him but He tells me again and again that I do.

“Thank you Lord!” is all I can say.

Thank you.

Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?

I will! And if you have accepted Christ into your life and been grafted into the vine… You will too!

Kingdom Lenses

I tell people, “Look at the beauty! The skies proclaim the glory of God!” but many reject the gospel saying, “Yes, there is beauty but there’s a lot of ugly too.”

I think we need to align our perspectives.  We need to put on Kingdom lenses. Perhaps one of the main reasons God has allowed sin to “ugly” up this planet is to give us perspective, and to give us free will of which perspective we will choose.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

Well, if there was nothing to put in the glass in the first place it wouldn’t matter either way.

Can good exist without bad? Would anyone recognize God’s righteousness without first knowing the opposite?

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” (Genesis 3:22)

Which perspective are you looking from?

When I look at Jesus with the world’s perspective I am nothing like Him.  The fact is that many of us who are professed disciples are nothing like Him. But when I tell Him that He says:

“My child, you are more like me than you think.” 

Jesus sees the whole picture.  Jesus not only sees with the glass half full but He sees what it will look like when the glass is completely full.

Do I love as much as I should?

No, but thank God He has changed me to love more than I did!

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete  it  until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:3-6)

I once heard a pastor say, “When I look in the mirror I see a problem, but when I look at Jesus I see a solution.”

Amen and amen!

Rise Up!

Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light!

Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Our Christian faith is about a lot more than just a ticket into heaven when we die.  It’s about a relationship with Christ, and a relationship where we can say we know Him as our friend.

Jesus offers us a joy that cannot be taken by anything in this world.  It cannot be stolen by any hardship but instead gives us strength to endure the trials of life.

This joy lasts forever, it is everlasting.  Do not miss out on your joy!

You have not because you ask not.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Call upon the Lord and receive everlasting joy!

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

 

(Eph 5:14, Neh 8:10, John 15:15, John 17:3, James 4:2, 4:8, Matt 7:7)

A New Hope

My soul still remembers
And sinks within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”

The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.

-Lamentations 3:20-25

 

I am so thankful that the Lord has brought me into a new season—a season of hope and joy!  But it did not come easy.  It came after a long hard lesson of humility—a 9 month long lesson of humility.  I moved with my wife to Georgia from California back in January with big plans.  It didn’t take long to realize that these big plans weren’t the real plan at all.  The real plan was of God to teach us humility.  The real plan was to become broken beyond the point of fixing myself and to be driven to the point of giving up on my own efforts of self-betterment.  The real plan was to be taught that my only joy in life can come from Jesus.

This season ended up being some of the hardest times mentally and spiritually of my entire life.  This was not my plan.  I am thankful for all of it though, because now I have a deeper dependence on God and live in greater humility.  I am able to be more thankful for the new grace He grants us every morning.   I am able to walk in closer fellowship with Christ being equally yoked to Him.  I can now truly say the Lord is my portion!

If I had to put one word to this entire season it would be “humbled.”  If I had to choose one scripture it would be Philippians 3:8-9.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

I asked my wife what her one word and bible verse would be and she said “appreciative” with her verse being Matthew 6:33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The Lord has told me my time in the wilderness is over.  It’s time for another new season!  God has called us back to California but this time I go with no “plans,” at least not of my own.  I really don’t know what the Lord has for us there but I know it will be good wherever we end up because He will be with us.

If you’re going through a time of hardship whether it be financially, emotionally, physical, stressful or spiritual please know that you can trust in the Lord.  God is on an eternal time clock and things don’t always make sense to us at the time of our circumstances, but God is faithful!  You can trust Him that He will work out all things for good to those who love Him.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart. –Psalm 37:4

Evidence of Things Not Seen

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  –Hebrews 11:1

Today I choose to let my faith be my evidence, not my understanding and intellect.

Lord give us the humility to trust in you whole-heartedly.

The Father’s Never Ending Love

Nothing can stop God’s love for you! NOTHING! His mercy endures forever and His love is never ending.  So stop condemning yourself.  The Father loves you and nothing will ever change that.

Are you willing to accept God’s love today?

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. –Romans 8:38-39