Tag: Savior

God IS in Control

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 God…is the blessed controller of all things. 1 Timothy 6:15 (Phillips)

God IS in Control

What a year it has been already! There have been some sad events: burying my mother-in-law, watching my father suffer through a serious infection. There has also been a rumbling in our lives as the stone has been rolled away from the tomb of some long-standing dreams. I can’t share the details, but I have witnessed enough miracles in the last month alone to move me to tears and remind me that God is a God of wonders.

When He closes a door, it’s closed. Solid. No amount of moving or praying can budge it.

When He opens a door, it’s flung wide to let in the fresh air of hope.

Whatever’s going on in your lives, rest in the trust that God does hear your prayers. And He really cares about you. As I’ve shared in the last couple of weeks in recent devotionals When Dead Men Speak and Beyond the Grave at CMADDICT.com, God moves in sovereign and powerful ways far beyond our ability to imagine.

Events of these last weeks have encouraged me to step out more boldly in His steps. It’s a fearsome thing to follow behind the Savior, knowing all He gave up to answer His Father’s call. But it’s more frightening to remain in the shadows of my faith, where fear rules the night.

Come with me, my friends. Let’s push aside the stumbling blocks that have kept us from being all God has called us to be. We can serve with joy, knowing our struggles are not in vain. He is still “the blessed Controller of all things.”

Do you know someone who takes care of a loved one?

Can you imagine how hard it is for them to make it through another day?

You can help! I still need people to join my team for the launch of my new book, Out from the Shadows: 31 Devotions for Weary Caregivers. You don’t need special skills or a great social media following to help. Just read my previous post (click here) and pick 5 ideas there or send me 5 of your own ideas and you’re on the team. There will be a drawing for a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader in March for those who become team members. E-mail me at thesong2008@live.com and put “Influencer Request” in the subject line. Thanks!

The Perfect Gift

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Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.
-Revelation 19:6

It’s another Christmas Eve.

The tree sits in multicolored splendor in our living room, guarding the presents lovingly set under its branches in readiness for tomorrow’s festivities. It’s not quite ready, though. I still have one more run to town to run that last errand. There’s also one more gift I’m mulling over today as I sit here with you.

What do I give a king?

Kings must be the hardest people to buy for. They can have whatever they want. A person who possesses enough money and power can get pretty much all his needs and wants satisfied. He can even buy the feigned loyalty of those around him. There’s only one thing a king can’t buy:

Love.

Oh, he can get affection. He can get “like.” But I’m talking about passionate love, the head-over-heels adoration that sees no fault in its beloved; a love that gives sacrificially and completely and with a full heart.

A love like God’s.

This season commemorates Love Incarnate, the total giving of God’s best and highest and most adored treasure: His own Son. In this Son, He didn’t give us a half-hearted gift. He bestowed upon us – the undeserving and uncaring – the most valuable thing He had to offer:

Eternal life.

Not just in eternity. Life now, on this earth, every day.

What a gift! What a God! What awe it should inspire in us every moment of every day!

What do we dwell on?

Humans have a bad habit of minimizing the good others do for us while inflating perceived wounds. In the course of a normal day, which event are we more likely to replay over and over in our minds, the kindness from another, or an insult?

We especially do this with God. Most of us awaken each morning (Miracle #1) in a warm bed (Miracle #2) and never even once remember to be grateful for each gift of life, health, and provision God gives us. Day in and day out, we accept these gifts without so much as a simple “Thank you.”

Forget the love.

But let something go wrong. What is our first reaction? If we’re honest, we’ll admit our first thought is usually to shake our fist at heaven and shout, “Why me, God?” Did we arise that morning and raise our hands to heaven and shout with equal fervor, “You are so good to me, God!“? It’s easy to take for granted that which hasn’t cost us anything. Until we hurt. Then we miss what we didn’t realize we had.

This Christmas, the King asks for only one gift. It won’t cost much. But it must be extravagant.

Give Him your heart.

What Is Your Calling?

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Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”
Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” -Isaiah 6:8

He came to earth for one reason: to complete the work given Him by His Father. For that work He sacrificed a normal existence, His own human longings, and eventually His life. He suffered daily agony. He died completely alone, forsaken even by the Father He came to serve.

It was His calling.

As we indulge in the season’s festivities, may we never lose sight of the very large footprints in which we follow. Over the ages we have added a lot of glitter and shine to a work of God that was bloody and cold.

Birth is messy. Stables are messy. Dying is messy.

The Savior walked a path filled with danger and hardship. He didn’t have to. But He did, for a world that didn’t even care.

As the year draws to a close, where are you in service to your King? Are you confused because you aren’t sure what you’re supposed to be doing for God? Are you discouraged because your efforts to serve Him seem to have little impact on those around you?

Is the messiness of life too distracting?

He is calling you today, in the midst of the clamor. He wants to speak to you right now. In fact, He is waiting for you.

Go to His Word. Close the door on the world and open up the Bible. You will find the words you need for this hour. If you need encouragement, it is there. If you’re looking for direction, you’ll find it. If you’re hungry for fresh inspiration, He has it.

Wait for Him. Breathe in His life. Don’t move until you see the next step in front of you. Listen for the call. It will come.

May your response be, “Here am I. Send me!”

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