Tag: christianity

Christian

Don’t Let the Rocks Cry Out!

Highlighting Hope

Are the rocks crying out in your stead? Jesus said that if it’s not our voices ushering out praise to Him, that the rocks will certainly do it. We are told in Luke 19 that as Jesus was entering Jerusalem, the whole multitudes of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with loud, joy- fulfilled voices as He triumphantly entered that town. Even there, in a glorious moment of being in the physical presence of our Savior, there were those who did not understand the praise of the people. Instead of joining in on the praise, these critics sought to shame and silence God’s worshippers. And what was Jesus’ response to these Pharisees? He told them “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

The triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the life of a believer will undoubtedly result in praise and worship. This new song that you have been given, that results in praise upon praise, is due to a triumphant, grand entrance of Jesus Christ into your life! Many around you may not understand your new song, this song of praise, as well as your desire to sing this new song loudly. Sing it anyway! Sing unto the Lord anyway, and then, kindly tell them why you have a new song that is crying out from you. Jesus is most deserving of our praise, and if it is not us, the rocks will certainly cry out. But were the rocks created to sing? What rock has a soul in need of saving and a voice fashioned by our creator to usher up praise? Not one! But you and I, we were created for praise (Psalm 102:18, Colossians 3:16).  In fact, let us see to it that there is never a need for the rocks to cry out and worship our God in our place.

There will be praise given up to God, but let it be our voices that are singing in bold adoration to the One who has seen us in our worst condition, who took on our sin upon Himself, and defeated sin and death for an underserving people. We serve a God who came to us in order to restore what sin sought to destroy! In spite of our great limitations “to be perfect as He is perfect”, He has made away for us to take on the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), to become His very own, and then He allows us to call Him, Abba, Father! Yes, this God is worthy our praise!  The triumphant entrance of Jesus will inevitably result in praise! Therefore brother and sister in Christ, lift your voice and let no rock cry out in your stead!

Christian

Don’t Let the Rocks Cry Out!

Highlighting Hope

Are the rocks crying out in your stead? Jesus said that if it’s not our voices ushering out praise to Him, that the rocks will certainly do it. We are told in Luke 19 that as Jesus was entering Jerusalem, the whole multitudes of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with loud, joy- fulfilled voices as He triumphantly entered that town. Even there, in a glorious moment of being in the physical presence of our Savior, there were those who did not understand the praise of the people. Instead of joining in on the praise, these critics sought to shame and silence God’s worshippers. And what was Jesus’ response to these Pharisees? He told them “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

The triumphant entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the life of a believer will undoubtedly result in praise and worship. This new song that you have been given, that results in praise upon praise, is due to a triumphant, grand entrance of Jesus Christ into your life! Many around you may not understand your new song, this song of praise, as well as your desire to sing this new song loudly. Sing it anyway! Sing unto the Lord anyway, and then, kindly tell them why you have a new song that is crying out from you. Jesus is most deserving of our praise, and if it is not us, the rocks will certainly cry out. But were the rocks created to sing? What rock has a soul in need of saving and a voice fashioned by our creator to usher up praise? Not one! But you and I, we were created for praise (Psalm 102:18, Colossians 3:16).  In fact, let us see to it that there is never a need for the rocks to cry out and worship our God in our place.

There will be praise given up to God, but let it be our voices that are singing in bold adoration to the One who has seen us in our worst condition, who took on our sin upon Himself, and defeated sin and death for an underserving people. We serve a God who came to us in order to restore what sin sought to destroy! In spite of our great limitations “to be perfect as He is perfect”, He has made away for us to take on the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), to become His very own, and then He allows us to call Him, Abba, Father! Yes, this God is worthy our praise!  The triumphant entrance of Jesus will inevitably result in praise! Therefore brother and sister in Christ, lift your voice and let no rock cry out in your stead!

Christian

Get Up and Walk!

Highlighting Hope

The enemy loves to cast discouragement our way, and it often occurs in the seat of our minds. As I began casting my cares upon the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke and said “Get up and walk!” I was taken aback at this response, because I wasn’t done wallowing in what was troubling my heart, but again I heard, “Get up and walk!”

Bitterness can strike the heart of the believer quickly, often unexpectedly, and always leading to unforgiveness. If bitterness and unforgiveness are what seems to plague your heart today, give it over to the Lord and “Get up and walk!”

Disappointment may be lurking around the corner, looking to greet you, and seeking to shatter the hope that you have in Christ. When disappointment makes its presence known and seeks to linger, give it over to the Lord and “Get up and walk!”

Struggles with sin are sure to arise, seeking to silence the voice of the Holy Spirit in your life. When sin seeks to dominate, confess it, give it over to the Lord, and “Get up and walk!”

When grief strikes, know that God is the God of all comfort; and if God is the God of all comfort, then there is nothing that you are facing, no pain that plagues your heart today, that is beyond His ability for which He can provide relief and healing. Dear friend, God our Father says you can in fact, “Get up and walk!”

As we cast our cares over and lay them at the feet of Jesus, may we cast them over knowing that we cast them over and lay them before a Conquering King! We cast them over to the One who provides and has provided us with perfect healing. What should cripple and paralyze, no longer cripples and paralyzes those of us who are in Christ, because the Holy Spirit that He has given us, enables us to obey His command to “Get up and walk!”

Jesus healed a paralyzed man by commanding him saying, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And what was the paralyzed man’s response? He got up and walked! We often think the end result is that this paralyzed man was able to finally walk. He finally received his needed healing, but that was hardly the final result. The final result was that God was glorified in this act, and all who saw the man who was lame get up and walk responded by saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today!” (Luke 5: 17-26)

Friends, when we follow Jesus’ command to get up and walk, we do in fact show that we have received a supernatural healing, but the result is never for the sole purpose that we “get to feel better” or for a “new and improved life.” No, it’s always for the sole purpose that God gets all of the glory! It allows us to put His miraculous acts on display for all the world see, and then many will in fact say, “Today, I have seen extraordinary things!” Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let’s follow the command of Our Savior! Let’s get up and walk!

Christian

Reaching Certainty Through Surrender

Highlighting Hope

I believe ,that embedded in all of our hearts, is a desire for certainty. It may seem in vain to have this desire because what aspects of life are certain?

Although uncertainty is true for this life, it is not true for God, and a having a misplaced source to fill this desire for certainty will only cause us to experience heightened insecurities, doubts, fears, and emptiness. The control over our lives that we seek to have results only in an increased deficit of control, which is the opposite of what we are seeking. I know this to be true because I have been there and I will admit to being a first-hand witness.

I sought after this control over my life. I thought I was grabbing a good dose of certainty and direction when I went off to college for the first time. I went as far from home as I could go without leaving the state. I was going to fix my life and things were about to get better for me, so I thought. I was going to make a big turnaround and finally do things the right way, but the, “do things right” part was short lived- if ever lived at all.

This pursuit only left me empty and lost. My insecurities continued to grow with each passing day. There were moments when I attempted to pray that God would intervene and change my heart and life. I knew that I was stuck in a life and rhythm of doing things my way, and even though its results only offered more emptiness, I struggled with wanting to leave it.

Months later, God did answer those halfhearted prayers. He flooded my heart with conviction and brokenness. I experienced His presence for the first time in a way that is truly indescribable. It’s what happened next though that really surprised me. That day, God called me to leave that college and go back home. Upon that call, so many questions filled my mind. How could I quit college in the middle of spring semester? What would my parents say? What would people think? Is this really the right thing to do? As God’s heavy urge to simply “go home” grew louder, the questions began to fade away. That day I withdrew from that school and took my first step towards true certainty even though I didn’t know what would lie ahead of me and so many of my questions were still left unanswered.

Our insecurities and uncertainties about life and all that it beholds will always be trumped and silenced by God’s call; but this is only true if we choose to obey His call. Obedience to God, whether or not we understand all the aspects of the “where and why” He is leading us a certain way, solves a lot of our problems.

Honestly, it was gut-wrenching to go from “my way” to “His way”. In the end, the control I thought I had, and the ability to self-fix only served to keep me enslaved to emptiness, disappointment, and heart ache. Sometimes we seek out this grand formula to follow and if we can’t find one, we create our own.

The plan for us to follow though is simple- it’s simply surrender. Surrendering to God’s call and walking in obedience to Him was the first plan He had in place, and abandoning it the Garden of Eden is where all the trouble began. Obedience to God solves the true root of our problems, and it will always provide us with the true certainty we are longing for.

Christian

Our Wounded Hearts are Best Laid at the Feet of Jesus

Highlighting Hope

One of the verses my daughter  learned at school when she was 5 was, “Hear and increase in learning.” Proverbs 1:5. An abundance of wisdom is found in that little verse, and as I have heard her recite it over and over again, I have been reminded of how important it is to take the time to listen. Here recently, I have made a greater effort in really listening to those around me, and take to heart the stories others share.

A story shared, is piece of someone’s heart that’s being given out and that is something of great value. As I have taken greater strides in listening, I have been able to see how much we really all have in common. We have all known happiness, sorrow, acceptance, rejection, fulfillment, and emptiness…etc; and all of these we have been acquainted with through various life experiences. But in the midst of our difficulties, can we all say that we have experienced true joy and peace?

Hardships do come. The size of the hardships may vary, but they do come, often leaving wounds that require time to heal and a course of treatment. But, how we treat our wounds makes all the difference in how well those wounds heal, and improperly cared for can result in something far worse than what you started with.

Our hearts are deceitful, especially when pain is present, making us more likely to respond to our hardships foolishly. When we are heavy with burdens, God, our Heavenly Father, lovingly extends an invitation to come and give those over to Him (Matthew 11:28). Choosing to obey and follow God’s call to come to Him when our hearts are hurting and our wounds are so deep, results in a great blessing and sets us on the path of true healing.

Regardless of the burden you carry today, regardless of how deep your wounds, we have a God who heals, who extends to us a surpassing peace, blesses us with joy in the storm, and bestows upon us His constant presence in our lives! Our wounded hearts are best cared for when we lay them at the feet of Jesus; and when we lay them there and leave them there, we can be sure that we will experience His healing, His joy, and His peace!

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Christian

Is it Time to Stop Praying?

Highlighting Hope

Is today the day that God may be saying to you that it’s time to stop praying?…. What a bogus question to ask, right? Or is it? Now, before you write me off for asking something so outlandish, please hear me out. I promise there is good reason for asking a question such as this.

I truly love praying! Cast ALL of my MANY cares upon the Lord??? Umm…. YES, PLEASE! Prayer is a privilege and it allows us to commune with God. He calls us to come to Him with all sorts of prayers and requests at all times of the day! Time and time again, I have gone back and read through my prayer journals and I have enjoyed reading past prayers and then recognize that God has answered so many of them in amazing ways. Even small little prayers that I had forgotten all about! Praying and watching God lovingly respond, is such a blessing and is a major faith builder for me.

But, is there a time when God calls us to stop praying about something? And surprisingly, I believe the answer is YES. If you are familiar at all with the book of Exodus then you already know that this book is all about God’s deliverance. I never get tired of going back and reading this book! How in the world can reading about God splitting the Red Sea so that He could lead His people out of a land of slavery get old? It’s such a faith builder and it helps me keep a true perspective of God as it beautifully puts His power on display.

But as I was reading this week, I stumbled across some verses that had never stood out to me before. Just as the Israelites were nearing the Red Sea, Pharaoh’s army continued moving closer to them. Fear quickly overtook the large crowd of escapees and Moses assures them that on this very day they would see the deliverance of the Lord.

But it’s the verse following this that really grabbed me.
Exodus 14:15 says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you still crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”
Wow! “Why are you still crying out to me?” This is what the Lord asked Moses as they stood in front of a large body of water with a massive army getting closer to them by the minute. I believe I would have still been crying out to the Lord too!

But what God was saying to Moses here in the middle of an intense, scary, and chaotic moment, is that there is a time when we are to stop praying and to start walking in faith!

God had heard the cries of His people and their prayers were being answered with each passing step. They just had to trust the God who was delivering them and allow their faith to be greater than their fear.

So could it be that God is asking us the very same question, “Why are you still crying out to me?” Maybe you have continued to pray about something and as God is answering your prayer, He is calling you out into the unknown and to trust Him.

I think that it’s important to ask ourselves, and to recognize if today is the very day that God is saying it’s time to stop praying about it and it’s time to start walking!

Christian

Reaching Certainty Through Surrender

Highlighting Hope

I think that embedded in all of our hearts is a desire for certainty. It may seem in vain to have this desire because what aspects of life are certain?

Although uncertainty is true for this life, it is not true for God, and a having a misplaced source to fill this desire for certainty will only cause us to experience heightened insecurities, doubts, fears, and emptiness. The control over our lives that we seek to have results only in an increased deficit of control, which is the opposite of what we are seeking. I know this to be true because I have been there and I will admit to being a first-hand witness.

I sought after this control over my life. I thought I was grabbing a good dose of certainty and direction when I went off to college for the first time. I went as far from home as I could go without leaving the state. I was going to fix my life and things were about to get better for me, so I thought. I was going to make a big turnaround and finally do things the right way, but the, “do things right” part was short lived- if ever lived at all.

This pursuit only left me empty and lost. My insecurities continued to grow with each passing day. There were moments when I attempted to pray that God would intervene and change my heart and life. I knew that I was stuck in a life and rhythm of doing things my way, and even though its results only offered more emptiness, I struggled with wanting to leave it.

Months later, God did answer those halfhearted prayers. He flooded my heart with conviction and brokenness. I experienced His presence for the first time in a way that is truly indescribable. It’s what happened next though that really surprised me. That day, God called me to leave that college and go back home. Upon that call, so many questions filled my mind. How could I quit college in the middle of spring semester? What would my parents say? What would people think? Is this really the right thing to do? As God’s heavy urge to simply “go home” grew louder, the questions began to fade away. That day I withdrew from that school and took my first step towards true certainty even though I didn’t know what would lie ahead of me and so many of my questions were still left unanswered.

Our insecurities and uncertainties about life and all that it beholds will always be trumped and silenced by God’s call; but this is only true if we choose to obey His call. Obedience to God, whether or not we understand all the aspects of the “where and why” He is leading us a certain way, solves a lot of our problems.

Honestly, it was gut-wrenching to go from “my way” to “His way”. In the end, the control I thought I had, and the ability to self-fix only served to keep me enslaved to emptiness, disappointment, and heart ache. Sometimes we seek out this grand formula to follow and if we can’t find one, we create our own.

The plan for us to follow though is simple- it’s simply surrender. Surrendering to God’s call and walking in obedience to Him was the first plan He had in place, and abandoning it the Garden of Eden is where all the trouble began. Obedience to God solves the true root of our problems, and it will always provide us with the true certainty we are longing for.

Christian

Stop Praying For Victory

Highlighting Hope

We love words like ‘triumphant’ and ‘victory’. There is a sense of accomplishment surrounding these words, and they result in a particular outcome that we are pleased with (and naturally so). As we embark on a new year, new goals will be set that we hope to accomplish in the months to come. Goals are good and they give us something to aim for, something to strive for, and sometimes we set a goal with the end result in mind without even considering the work that will be required to get us to the finish line.

Likewise in our Christian walk, we love to experience victory and we want to share testimonies of how God is working in our lives. We long for success, but we often forget what the true root of victory and success is, and that is obedience. Jerry Bridges says in his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, “We pray for victory when we know we should be acting in obedience… we do not understand the proper distinction between God’s provision and our own responsibility for holiness” Hebrews 12:14 implores us to make EVERY effort to be holy and therefore, effort means we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is obedience.

We oftentimes prefer words like ’triumph’ or ‘victory’ over a word like ‘obedience’, but at the heart of those things is obedience. If we examine the lives of God’s people throughout scripture, you can see some clear patterns.  When did they experience victory? They experienced victory when they were obedient and therefore their victory was a RESULT. When did God’s people experience defeat? They experienced defeat as a RESULT of disobedience.

Friends, nothing has changed! For us to experience true victory today, we must have hearts fully devoted to God and strive for obedience. How different would this upcoming year be if we set our hearts on obedience? How different would this year be if we started working to say “no” to what separates us from God started saying “yes” in our pursuit of being holy? Let’s stop praying for victory when it’s really an act of obedience that is required. May God set our focus on the right things and the right outcome is sure to follow.

May God bless you in 2024!

Christian

Stop Praying For Victory

Highlighting Hope

We love words like ‘triumphant’ and ‘victory’. There is a sense of accomplishment surrounding these words, and they result in a particular outcome that we are pleased with (and naturally so). As we embark on a new year, new goals will be set that we hope to accomplish in the months to come. Goals are good and they give us something to aim for, something to strive for, and sometimes we set a goal with the end result in mind without even considering the work that will be required to get us to the finish line.

Likewise in our Christian walk, we love to experience victory and we want to share testimonies of how God is working in our lives. We long for success, but we often forget what the true root of victory and success is, and that is obedience. Jerry Bridges says in his book, The Pursuit of Holiness, “We pray for victory when we know we should be acting in obedience… we do not understand the proper distinction between God’s provision and our own responsibility for holiness” Hebrews 12:14 implores us to make EVERY effort to be holy and therefore, effort means we have a responsibility, and that responsibility is obedience.

We oftentimes prefer words like ’triumph’ or ‘victory’ over a word like ‘obedience’, but at the heart of those things is obedience. If we examine the lives of God’s people throughout scripture, you can see some clear patterns.  When did they experience victory? They experienced victory when they were obedient and therefore their victory was a RESULT. When did God’s people experience defeat? They experienced defeat as a RESULT of disobedience.

Friends, nothing has changed! For us to experience true victory today, we must have hearts fully devoted to God and strive for obedience. How different would this upcoming year be if we set our hearts on obedience? How different would this year be if we started working to say “no” to what separates us from God started saying “yes” in our pursuit of being holy? Let’s stop praying for victory when it’s really an act of obedience that is required. May God set our focus on the right things and the right outcome is sure to follow.

May God bless you in 2024!