a simple exercise in preaching truth to yourself

I am thankful for a faith that requires me to engage my mind and my thoughts . . . and practically apply truth in day-to-day life.

Sometimes, I just want to float through the day . . . to live based on my feelings or emotions (which is super dangerous if you are a woman :) ).

But that is no way to live, since our emotions are fickle and my mood can change in the twinkling of an eye, for no apparent reason. 

You and I must make a choice . . . a choice to either listen to our anxious thoughts and feelings, or a choice to speak the truth to ourselves. We have to be proactive and take action, not just float through the motions. We must engage with the truth of the Gospel.

As Paul David Tripp says, "No one is more influential in your life than you are. Because no one talks to you more than you do."

There is a post at desiring God on this topic, and the author states:

In our sin, we constantly find our responses to life in our fallen world to be disconnected from the theology that we confess. Anger, fear, panic, discouragement stalk our hearts and whisper in our ears a false gospel that will lure our lives away from what we say we believe.
The battleground, says Tripp, is meditation. What is it that is capturing your idle thoughts? What fear or frustration is filling your spare moments?
Will you just listen to yourself, or will you start talking? No, preaching — not letting your concerns shape you, but forming your concerns by the gospel.

Tullian Tchividjian also writes (link here):

Because we are so naturally prone to look at ourselves and our performance more than we do to Christ and his performance, we need constant reminders of the gospel. 
Day by day, what we must do practically can be experienced only as we come to a deeper understanding of what we are positionally—a deeper understanding of what’s already ours in Christ.
The hard work of Christian growth, therefore, is to think less of me and my performance and more of Jesus and his performance for me. Ironically, when we focus mostly on our need to get better we actually get worse. We become neurotic and self-absorbed. Preoccupation with my effort over God’s effort for me makes me increasingly self-centered and morbidly introspective.

We can daily press deeper into the cross and apply Gospel truth to the untouched areas of our lives. To combat lies and feelings with the objective truths found in scripture. 

A friend challenged me with an exercise that has benefitted me greatly over the years. She asked me to think through and write down - "What lies are you believing right now?" Followed up by, "What scripture disproves this?" It is a practical way to confront the lies that can so easily sneak up and interject themselves into our lives.

open hands

From Him and through Him and for Him are all things . . .

- Romans 11:36

Ohhh, it has been too long.

But I am back :)

For now, at least.

Anyway . . . a friend of mine recently talked about living with open hands. Living in a way where you are fully yielded to God, not withholding anything from Him. Your hands are not clenched tightly around any area of your life, because nothing is off limits for God. He can take and give freely.

If I fully believe that God created me, has drawn me to Himself and is the one who sustains, guides and fulfills me . . . then how can anything be off limits for Him?

Scripture says that all things were created by God and for God. 

That causes me to ask . . . what am I living for?

Am I living for the one who created me and saved me? Am I fully available to Him? Am I finding my fulfillment and purpose in Him? 

It frees me from living for my own agenda or timeline. It changes my perspective.

My small group is going through a study called "Experiencing God." I read something this morning that goes along with living this way:

God will start to make Himself known to you simply as He would to a child. As you respond to Him in childlike trust, a whole new way of looking at life will begin to unfold for you. Your life will be fulfilling. You will never sense an emptiness or a lack of purpose in your life. God always fills your life with Himself. 

my hiding place

I was reading this devotional earlier and Psalm 119:114 stood out to me.

God's word is our hiding place . . . He is our strength, our shield, our very firm foundation and ever present help in trouble. He is our true source of hope that lasts. 

When everything else is falling apart, God still holds true to His promises and His word. It never comes back void.

He is the one who has promised to never leave or forsake us - no matter what our circumstances, our feelings or even our peers tell us.

Take refuge is God's word today. Let His promises cover you, guide you and lift your eyes this week.

building up

(source)

Words can be so powerful, can't they?

As Ephesians 4:29 reminds us, our words can have the power to build up, encourage, or tear down those around us.

One of my friends was describing a couple she knows . . . she observed that they only speak respectfully and highly of one another. They seem to hold each other in the highest honor, and she's never heard them talk poorly or complain about each other.

That stuck with me all weekend. Even though I was hearing about this second hand, it really impacted me.

Scripture teaches us to speak kindly, to love, to build up those around us. Sometimes this comes easily, but other times it's not.

The closer you are to someone, the more you see their flaws, their imperfections, their sin, even things they do that get on your last nerve.

So it's not that you speak kindly because your spouse/friend/family is perfect or always on your good side, it's because you can choose to. You can overlook their flaws, you can see them the way God sees them . . . a man or woman that He loves, that He has created in His image (and someone who is imperfect, just as you are).

When you speak this way, that person can thrive and rise up to who God has called them to be.

I've heard it said that grace is the most powerful change agent in the world.

Will complaining, slandering or speaking negatively about our loved ones change them? Will it build them up to become a better person? Will it be helpful to us, them, or the people we speak to?

I'm not saying it's easy . . . I struggle with this all the time.

I have to ask myself, how do I speak to people and about people? Is it kind? Is it beneficial to those who hear?

What would happen if we choose to speak positively and build up those people in our lives? What if we only speak what is kind, what is helpful, what is beneficial? How would it change our relationships, how would it change those around us, how would it change you individually?

more joy than when grain and wine abound

There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.

In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

 Psalm 4:6-8

Oh, that today we would find true, lasting, filling joy in our Savior. No matter what this day brings, that our hearts would be steady and confident in Him. That they would fill to the point of overflowing.

a simple truth

This makes your brain explode, if you really think about it.

. . . he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ . . .
Ephesians 1:4-5

He chose us . . . before we even existed, to belong to Him.

He chose us . . . knowing all the choices we would make, all the thoughts we would think, all the mistakes and stumbling and doubting and backsliding. Knowing all of our imperfections and our human nature.

He still came for us, knowing everything that would transpire . . . knowing that we would try to live apart from Him, trying to be in control, trying to do things our own way. 

I could go on and on. 

My point is this:

Nothing in your past, nothing that you are doing in this current moment, nothing in your future surprises God.

He cannot love you any less or any more because of something you have or haven't done.

You do not have the ability to mess up what God has declared over you.

You cannot lose your salvation any more than God can lose you.

He does not regret saving you.

He came for you and I in our darkest moment - and He took the pain and the suffering of Calvary and made a way for us because He didn't want to be without us. 


And He would do it all again.

Oh, I pray that we would cherish this truth and let it melt our hearts.

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  
Romans 5:8

You Hear Me When I Call

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies?  

 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

^{Psalm 4:1-3}

How thankful I am that we have a God that is not distant and far away, but one who hears us when we call to Him. The Psalms show us how we can be raw and honest with God . . . that it's a safe place to be real with Him. 
  
How different life would be if He wasn't truly Immanuel, God with us.  

And how can we be assured that He hears us? If you are in Christ, scripture tells us that
all the promises of God find their yes in him (2 Corinthians 1:20). We can know that He has given us freedom and full acceptance to approach Him, to have true relationship.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8 

"Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."
John 17:23 

hope

As 2014 begins, I find myself wanting to be hopeful. The new year has a way of producing that in all of us, right? We want a fresh start, a resolution or a fun change, something to look forward to.

It's easy to draw hope from the thought of change in circumstances.
Maybe this year, I will get that ________ [ new job / relationship / good habit / self-discipline / new living situation / etc. etc. ]

But what happens when our dreams aren't fulfilled, when our hopes don't come to fruition? What if we find ourselves in the exact same circumstances this time next year? (or what if our circumstances change for the worse?)

It just points to the fact that we must place our hope somewhere else . . . somewhere that will not disappoint or leave us feeling empty after striving and longing for yet another year.

The Bible talks a lot about hope, but it's hope that is beyond this world. We all yearn to have our desires met, our soul's longings fulfilled. We try to find that in circumstances, in things we can see and touch and taste and feel. But as I've heard someone say - we are eternal, so we need something eternal to fulfill us.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

- 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,  where Jesus has gone . . . 

- Hebrews 6:18-20

 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 5:5

And maybe this year will indeed bring wonderful blessings - God is our loving Father and He does give us good gifts. That's part of what He does. But, we do not have to put our hope solely in circumstances. We have something far greater than anything this world could give us or death could take away. The greatest gift God could ever give us is Himself - I pray that we would know that, not only as head knowledge, but heart knowledge . . . that our souls would find everything we could ever want or need in Him. That whatever this year does bring, our hearts will find rest and contentment that circumstances cannot touch.

let's hear it for a comeback?

This blog may or may not be coming back to life. Thanks to Lacey and Sarah who encouraged me to write today . . . let's see how long this run goes :) 
----------------------------------------------------------------

I was reading a devotional this morning before spin class (don't ask how early it was) and this passage really spoke to me:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
 - Titus 3:4-7

Because it's not by my efforts, my works, anything of my own doing or merit that can get me close to God. 

Because I mess up daily, and my soul needs to rest in the promise that Christ has taken my place and lived perfectly in my place . . . that it's His righteousness and His grace that cover me.

“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” 

- Tim Keller