The Exceeding, Great Reward

We are like grass that withers, and all we have is God. All we have to keep is the eternal King, the greatest gift imaginable. Actually, we cannot even image or understand what we truly hold in our bodies, the risen life of Christ, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has made our feeble tents, His Holy of Holies.  Oh that we could more deeply grasp the greatest treasure we already have. If we could only grasp that we already have the greatest thing possible; and that nothing we desire could ever compare to what we already have.

This knowledge is too high for us, overwhelmingly good. All of Heaven’s love and resources are gifted to us by inheritance through Christ. Every spiritual comfort and strength is offered to us if we should desire it. The life of Christ in us is vivid and powerful. Lord, grant us Your wisdom to wield this beauty and eternal power that you have granted us, your soldiers. What an ally; surely the Christian is undefeatable. God has won our every battle already. If we should only stick with Christ, we walk in constant victories and in His security. “…I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”- Genesis 15:1

Today, during devotions at Bible College Germany, we were speaking about the greatest things God has revealed to us. We also talked about the ways satan distorts the image of God to us, so that we may believe wrong things about Him and get discouraged. Truly satan is the master at deception and totally a liar. One person shared about how satan always likes to attack the idea that God is good. He wants us to believe that God is not always good and to doubt the incredible truth that God is always great and good to us. God does want to bless us, and He can only do what is the best for us. We can always trust in God’s perfect goodness, exceeding kindness, and love for our lives.

Once, after a crushing blow that I experienced, Satan asked me this infamous doubt, “Is God still good?”  By God’s amazing grace, I said yes.  I just believed that God was still was good though I didn’t understand in that moment.  I have doubted God’s goodness other times however, but God set out to reveal to me the steady truth again and again, ever more lovingly and gloriously than before.

The greatest revelation that God has given me is that He is good.  It seems totally paradoxical and even I am surprised that it turned out this way, because from no earthly stand point would anyone say that God is good, having seen my life the last three years.  Perhaps they would say that God was good before three years ago happened, when I was still somebody, when I was smart,  had a great “future,” and great in the eyes of others. And then God made me nothing, yet now I am free to know that He is good more than I could ever have understood before.

We often think of God as being good when good things happen to us: like “blessings.” We people get married and have babies, when there is lots of work and sunny skies. Then people say, God is very good to us. But how many people would say that God is very good when all has gone the opposite. What about when you are like Job. Not that I know anyone personally who has suffered like Job, but I have heard similar stories of past characters, and I have suffered enough myself to get a glimpse and scarring taste of what it is like.

Job lost earthly things. He lost basically everything, except his wife. We just read about his losses all grouped together and almost casually pass over them. But, if you really thought about how he had a relationship with each precious child lost, and a life with them filled with years of memories that won’t ever go away… the losses he experienced could have literally killed any other person of grief. And satan of course comes around to question God’s goodness in Job’s life.

But what if God is actually the best to you when you lose everything… What if He actually shows you favor in allowing suffering….

Bear with me in this and see for yourself if it makes sense to you. We are made really for eternity and not for this life alone. We will not keep any earthly thing forever whether we lose it now or when we die. And the highest, best thing for our lives is Jesus. So what if God is being the best “good” to you when you suffer the loss of earthly things?  And here is what I believe has been God’s greatest revelation to me.

“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 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”- Philippians 3:8.

 I used to stand on many things to give me purpose, value, and confidence. Some of those things were idols, including myself. One, by one, the Lord stripped these false foundations from under me. It was painful and sometimes embarrassing (I just embarrassed myself though, not God). It would be easy to think that God is not good during the loss earthly things, because sometimes you will lose very good earthly things that are not necessarily evil at all, but that may be keeping you from the best thing. God is the all-consuming fire. He was faithful and exceeding good to keep this promise to me, and to consume with fire anything in the way of Him completely being master of my life. 

This was the theme verse of my last semester of Bible College: “…Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”- Genesis 15:1.

When everything else is a reward to you (such as your intelligence, fame, accomplishments, glory in good works, being seen and appreciated…), it is hard for Jesus, just Himself, to be your exceeding, great reward. But when earthly idols and foundations are removed, you are free to experience the greatest gift that you had all along. I always had Jesus since being saved, I just didn’t know Him or experience Him fully as truly being my exceeding, great reward. Jesus was always added to things.  He supplemented my life; or I was in it, honestly, for mostly His good gifts to me and His plan for my life. But would I be in it just for Jesus?

Would you still be in it, just for Jesus? If all was removed and there was no promise of future earthly goods and comforts in this life, would you still be in this race just because you loved God? 

God is the best gift you could ever have. He is the greatest treasure and friend in the universe. He is the ultimate good thing. So whenever the devil tempts you to question if God is still good after you have suffered a loss or a disappointment, you can say, yes. God is even more  good to me now, because I will always have Jesus. He is the best good, and now I will experience even more of Him and all His precious life in me.It is the best good to experience how sufficient and eternally satisfying God himself is. God is enough for us. And though we wither away like grass and our life passes like a vapor, we get to keep and to know Jesus forever.

You have carried me beyond my limitations. It is like I am gliding with my feet off the ground, trusting in a heavenly harness. It is the ride of faith.
You know my weaknesses, for they are very great. Without grace I would truly be a failure and destroyer, But, you have lifted me up in Christ's favor. You turn all things for good. Faith and risk go together. What a great  risks must be taken in every Christian's life.
My feet are clear off the ground with no visible security of this future route. I must take your word for it and hope with all my heart. This is the walk of faith, where it is all by grace. What  a peculiar idea - so alien to human nature and earthly living.

"Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"- Exodus 15:11

The Ride of Circumstance

We experience an unworldly freedom when our circumstances no longer have the power to dictate our moods, reactions, and emotions. So often, human emotions are enslaved to a ride of circumstance. It starts a cycle of behaving and living in a way that will gratify the desire for joy at all costs. It breeds a human monster of selfishness and self-centeredness, because only when things go our way, or when great things happen, can we be happy.  We get the opportunity everyday however, to walk over the defeat of our beastly flesh; yet what an impossibility in the human power!  There is always occasion for learning contentment and the ability for it in Christ. "..for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content"- Philippians 4:11. Be encouraged, that it is allowed for us to still be learning contentment; since, it is a thing that cannot come naturally, but must be learned.  

 It is a supernatural victory to have joy in suffering and great hope in hopeless circumstances. The impossible living of the Christian is so paradoxically wonderful and outer-worldly. We have the resources in God to bear fruit in drought and to remain an evergreen, even when the rains delay. Rivers of living water may flow from our hearts whenever we believe Jesus.

The root of most of my dismay and discouragement comes from circumstances that I cannot see beyond.  When I am sad, and really stop to think about why, I realize that there is someplace where my unbelief has darkened my hope and joy. I am not believing in God's forgiveness perhaps, or not believing that His love and faithfulness will conquer the mess I have made; maybe I am not believing that God has my best in mind, even in a seemingly "contradictory" circumstance. Maybe we just don't believe God will bless us, or answer a long delayed prayer. But, God blesses us because He is good and delights to show mercy. God will bless you. You dont have to be good enough for God to bless you. In fact, He may even withhold some blessings until you realize that they cannot be deserved or earned. "The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made"- Psalm 145:9.

Go Israel

12-14-12... Dear Families of the Connecticut Children,

Born for another world, they were taken in the dawn of life.

Innocent and beautiful, of whom this world is not worthy. They passed away, carried by angels into Heaven’s arms.

Mom and dad are shattered with broken hearts. grief too unbearable to speak.  

Little saints are comforted and received in the Father’s embrace. He holds them close in precious healing and very real, everlasting life. You won’t hear their sweet voices in your home anymore, but they will lift up their voices now to sing in His.

Mom and dad, brothers and sisters, no one can take this grief from you – it has wiped the wind from your lungs.  The pain is like a dagger tearing into your heart as reality hits over and over.  Nothing can remove this suffering that cannot be escaped; but you must head straight into it like a great oncoming wave. Right now it is too faint to see, but there is a glimmer of light that will grow into hope for your family. Know that “Jesus wept.”

Jesus groaned. “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled”- John 11:33-35.  It was not supposed to be like this, men were not supposed to die. It was not supposed to be this way.

“Jesus wept.”

Your little ones are safe and loved more than you would ever be capable of loving them. Soon your heart will be able to see them dancing before the King in joy unspeakable. In a wisdom we cannot yet understand, they have perhaps been spared from greater evil to come.

 "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"- Romans 12:21

Once the devil asked me if God was still good. but we don't speak to him. Yes, God is still good!

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him…”

You will survive this. And now you must seek to go to them, for they can never return to you here.  They live there! Believe God and you will be together again. He holds your tears in a bottle and not one is lost or unseen. God is there keeping all the shattered pieces together and holding you when you are too weak to breathe. 

She is blind, but sang a song that sees.

From My Upmost For HIs Highest today!

"The Great Life

Dec 14, 2012

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled . . . —John 14:27

"Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.
God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.
My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems."