Faith

Everlasting Covenant

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Read Genesis 16-17

 

Abraham’s privilege is our great blessing. We are his spiritual descendants and benefit from the Lord’s promises made to Abraham. Believers can rightly apply God’s Word as true, even future promises as good as done. The land of Canaan, the Promised Land, will be made new for us in a new heaven and new earth. Our Home is with the Lord, our Father, forever.

The Abrahamic covenant still stands, brought under the New Covenant instituted by Jesus Christ- no more shedding of blood for our sins. Christ has done this and it is magnificent and sufficient. Abraham’s lineage is marvelous because God made it so. People from every tribe, every tongue, every nation come together as One Family in Christ.

We can hold onto these forever promises, a bound covenant in which God cannot/ will not lie. El Roi is with you, He sees you, and watches over you in His love. He is good enough to even call us not just servants and friends, but sons and daughters. Believer, you are eternally His.

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” -Zephaniah 3:17

 

Grace upon grace,

April

Knowing God

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Read Genesis 11:1-13:4; Psalm 5; Proverbs 1:24-28; Matthew 5:1-26

 

In the Genesis account, mankind continues to flourish in population but their lifespan becomes shorter after the Flood. Under one language the people work together, to build a tower attempting to reach the heavens. In man’s hubris we seek to be equal with God. The Lord then scatters the people by confusing their speech and then scatters them over the face of the earth.

God later calls Abram into a relationship with Him. Abraham responds by obediently following God, not to be like God, such as the people at Babel. His life after this encounter is never the same. Abraham still sins in his lifetime out of fear and passivity, not trusting the Lord in those times, yet He obeyed with great faith and was considered “a friend of God”. The Lord mercifully and wonderfully works through His flawed creation!

Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5 directs us in how we relate to others and to God. The people at the tower of Babel failed to see how people can honor the Lord when working together to glorify Him. So God frustrated their plans. Abraham demonstrates how we properly relate to our Creator through his faithful obedience and humility.

Our call today is to seek the Lord while He may be found. We can follow Him and into eternity but this opportunity to know God will not always be available. Either our lives will end or Christ will come.

God makes Himself known to those who desire to follow Him like Abraham. Do I know God this way? As a friend? What would others say of your life at the end? Do you live a life of faith like Abraham? Do you know God? Jesus Christ has made this relationship possible bridging the gap between our sin and God’s righteousness. Hallelujah, what a Savior!

 

Grace upon grace,

April

Operation Redemption

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Read Genesis 8:1-10:32; Psalm 4; Proverbs 1:20-23; Matthew 4:12-25

 

In the Genesis section Scripture shows the flourishing of mankind on the earth. Our struggle in a fallen world and natural inclination for wickedness are noted. Psalms 4 and the Proverbs portion go on to describe how men love delusions, distractions, and false gods, rejecting the wisdom God offers, which is Himself. The world rejects Christ.

And then in Matthew 4 we see the plan of redemption put into motion, with “feet on the ground”. Jesus incarnate begins His earthly ministry and changes the course of history for mankind. He brings light to a dark, spiritually desolate world.

Over time and many generations later, we defer back to our flesh, forgetting God or what He has done. Our hearts are calloused, our ears deaf and our eyes blind to the truth of the Gospel. Jesus came to break free the captive from sin and death. He offers eternal life in Him and with Him. He only calls us to follow Him.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”  (Isaiah 61:1-2; fulfilled in Luke 4:16-21)

“Let the light of Your face shine upon us, O Lord. You have filled my heart with greater joy…” (Psalm 4:6-7)

 

Grace upon grace,

April

 

Noah’s obedience

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Read Genesis 5:1-7:24; Psalm 3; Matthew 3:7-4:11

Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. He obeyed the Lord’s commands to build an ark. What’s important to note here is that Noah could not have done this in his own strength. Noah like the rest of mankind, is corrupt, inclined to wickedness.

Men and women in the Bible commended for their godliness operate out of obedience to God’s power in them. This is part of the mystery concerning God’s Sovereignty and man’s will. It is the Lord’s grace. He gives us the desire and faith to follow Him, yet we have to be obedient to this call. It is a lifelong process, as the old nature is being removed and our new nature in Christ becomes what we want (Romans 7:14-8:4). As the righteous live by faith, our desires begin to match the Father’s will.

Jesus demonstrated perfect obedience even under great temptation and physical weakness. When Satan seeks to destroy Him in the desert, Christ clings to the Word of God. Knowing the Scriptures, Jesus refutes the Enemy by speaking what is true. Satan knows the Bible as well yet perverts it for his own gain, mishandling the verses he quotes.

Our habits, how we spend our time, is a reflection of what is important to us. We become what we behold. We have examples in the Bible of obedience through imperfect people, as well as our Perfect Example in Christ. This is a great comfort because it means that Jesus understands what it’s like to be tempted as we are yet He did not sin (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:15).

Do you pursue holiness or abuse God’s grace with indifference? Do you rely on the Lord’s strength or your own? We are called to be faithful and obedient. This is why Noah is considered righteous before God. He believed and obeyed. Do you?

 

Grace upon grace,

April

A faithful gift

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“As long as the earth endures, 

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.”

Genesis 8:22

This is a promise the Lord made to Noah after the flood. We can still see the faithfulness of His covenant today. As long as the world endures, God orchestrates the seasons of the year, rotating the Earth, allowing us to experience variety in nature.

The gift of sight.

We behold His beauty, His creativity, His faithfulness daily in creation. But it isn’t just in nature. The Father works in our lives individually to show us His power and love. We see Him in our circumstances. How has the Lord been faithful to you? Day by day He gives us grace- from each breath we take, to providing food, people who love us and we can love in return, His Word, and the gift of His always with-ness through the Holy Spirit, God with us, Immanuel.

Physical gifts, material blessings, and spiritual riches. These are ways the Lord lavishes us, ways we can delight in Him. But the Gift we have most to be thankful for? Jesus. This Thanksgiving, whatever our circumstances are, we can be joy-filled and grateful because we have Christ. Reflect on His faithfulness to you over the year and your lifetime. Write some of them down. Jesus went to the cross for you and me. He didn’t have to, but perfectly loved and obeyed the Father. He willingly laid down His life for sinners, to set us free. Christ came and died and lives.

He is Enough.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

3 Ways to Practice Gratitude

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He stomped his foot and looked at me with arms crossed in displeasure. This behavior is a recent development that I have mixed feelings about. Obviously defiance is not okay and needs loving correction. But on the other hand, I see his behavioral development as crossing a threshold, and it makes me jump with excitement on the inside.

Progress.

Noticing little changes like this even when the result isn’t so great is a step towards thriving. And he is, we just go at a slower pace than most. That’s okay.

Sometimes I get stuck on a merry-go-round of sadness noticing all the ways my son isn’t like his peers. It can quickly plummet into a downward spiral if I don’t get off that circus ride. Most days we operate in our own world without the comparison of typical children since my son is an only child.

The days we are around other kids can feel like a bucket of ice water dumped over me. A cold reminder. I hate being blindsided by my feelings like that. It’s not just because my son has special needs. He’s amazing and I know that. The isolation Jason and I experience as parents is what can make me bitter. We get pushed aside in those casual conversations parents have about their typical kids, concerned their child will fall behind in school, soccer practices take over all their free time, or fill in the blank. It’s hard to not inwardly roll my eyes – because I’m mature like that.

It can feel like we are speaking a completely different language. Hello Holland, hello Italy.

What I am learning on this journey of special needs parenting is that pain is universal, but not divided equally. It doesn’t matter the size of your problem, we all have feelings that matter and should be validated. I never want to minimize what a friend is going through just because I can’t understand it.

If I am going to practice grace toward others, I first need to learn the secret of contentment in my own circumstances. I have failed to do this in my own strength, but  have had victories in the Spirit’s power too. I want to learn how to honor someone else’s struggle so that I can come alongside them, not dismiss their trials.

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Here are 3 things I know to be true in cultivating grace and gratitude:

1. Comparison is the thief of joy.

It breeds discontentment. Comparing ourselves with people we know or people we’ve never actually met (Instagram influencers, celebrities, etc.) manifests quietly in our hearts, as our thoughts lash out toward that person, usually without them ever knowing. We end up in envy and self-pity that eats away at our spirits if we don’t change direction.

2. Competing over our trials leads to bitterness.

I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes we rank the severity of our trials with one another. We use our pain as a measuring stick of “how bad we have it” instead of seeking to comfort a hurting friend. I know I’ve done it. But the different kinds of suffering we experience isn’t an indication of how spiritually mature we are. How we respond in those trials, big or small, is the factor.

Do I run to the Lord for refuge? Do I lick my own wounds and try to patch them up? Do I just get angry?

3. A thankful heart guides us back to the Father.

The reason God commands us to be thankful people is that its good for us. Our outlook is brighter and our hearts lighter when we see how much we are blessed. Count the ways, big and small, that God has shown you grace upon grace. It doesn’t come natural for us, but living out this God-honoring principle will be a blessing in itself. Grateful people are happy people. So I start to notice how he is currently laughing, clasping both hands over his mouth as if to contain the giggles bubbling out. The way he is super polite, always making sure to say “Excuse me” in the right context or “thank you” and “please”. We celebrate the small accomplishments, not taking them for granted.

I see how God is using our present circumstances in a new school to help his speech sky rocket. His teachers and therapists are amazing. Not only that, we have been tremendously blessed with a church family that loves him and supports us. Our families live nearby and help any way they can and often.

These are things the Lord has reminded me of lately. He is faithful to turn my heart back to Him with gentle reminders of His love for me, for my son. More importantly, the temporary blessings point toward the greatest blessing I have forever: Christ. They’re like arrows that lead me back to Him, because of what Jesus did at the cross. For me, for you. It all circles back to Christ. Preaching the Gospel to ourselves each day realigns our  ungratefulness to His grace-filled heart.

Grace upon grace,

April

Becoming who you already are

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Do I love Him?

Do I love Jesus deeply? Is He becoming what I treasure most?

Becoming…

It is a life long transformation. On one side we are instantaneously made righteous, redeemed, adopted. On the other side the Lord is patiently working out our salvation, growing our faith and love for Christ every day.

It’s the broken hallelujah being restored living in the middle of “already and not yet”. Jesus Christ has come and died and rose. My Hope is made real the more I see, the more I love the unseen. My eyes begin to adjust to the Light as I am washed in His Word.

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We have one foot in this world and one foot in heaven. It can be hard at times to live out the resurrected life. But it is ours for the taking. We have the Holy Spirit’s power to wield into our every day lives.

How do we do this exactly? In reading through the Scriptures you start to notice themes and commands that serve as the backdrop to all of life. It goes something like this:

Take your sin seriously because we offend a Holy God. Pursue personal holiness even when trials come. Commit your way to the Lord.

We stumble. Grieve our sin, repent, seek God’s unending storehouse of mercy. We do not live as one condemned. Lean into our freedom as sons and daughters of the Most High. This is the rhythm of Christianity.

Becoming…

You already belong to God as a believer. Jesus made this possible. We live on the other side of the cross, complete with the canon of Scripture to read whenever we want. I need these reminders too. We have to preach the Gospel to ourselves not just on Sundays but every single day of the week.

This is my prayer and offering to you-

Father, 

Let Your truth fall fresh on us. Captivate our hearts and minds with Love so Divine, demanding our soul, our life, our all. Help cultivate within us deep joy and abiding faithfulness today, tomorrow, into the rest of our eternity when we will see You face to face. Our hallelujahs made fully complete.

Grace upon grace,

April

Unplanned: Movies That Matter And Why You Need To See Them

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There are some films you see not for entertainment value but because of the message. It speaks to the heartbeat of current culture. This is why Unplanned was made. While I knew the movie would be hard to watch, there’s no way to really prepare for the heavy content. In case you aren’t familiar with the recent film Unplanned, it addresses the issue of abortion, focusing on Abby Johnson’s story.

As a clinic director for Planned Parenthood, Abby rose to the top, serving as the youngest director in just eight years. She even had two abortions of her own before working for this organization. The irony is that while she advocated for women’s rights to have abortions, she had never actually seen one done.

The day she assisted an abortionist by holding the probe over a mother’s belly, Abby finally saw the reality of abortion. She watches in horror as the infant twists away from the tube, and is then sucked piece by piece out of the uterus. I’m not going to lie, I thought I was going to throw up during this scene. The camera scans to the containers of blood and body parts afterward.

It’s gruesome to watch, but this happens every day, every hour, to thousands of humans who are murdered through abortions. It is happening right now as I write this- as you read this. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973 the death toll rises in the millions.

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Abby had a complete shift in her thinking over unborn life. She was so shaken by what she saw that Abby resigned from Planned Parenthood and now runs an anti-abortion ministry called And Then There Were None.

Because of her experience Abby knows how to counsel women considering an abortion or women who have had one. This post is not a slam on those who made the decision to end their baby’s life. I can’t imagine that kind of grief. But this doesn’t have to define the rest of your story either. There is forgiveness and redemption for those who seek it. God provided a way for all of us through Jesus Christ so that we can have freedom and fellowship with Him without living under condemnation anymore. What makes this movie beautiful is the whole story. We see Abby’s life reclaimed and set with a fresh vision of hope.

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Abortion is a shameful part of our history that most of us don’t think about often. I honestly don’t like to because I get upset, nauseous, and feel helpless to do any good. But abortion isn’t a game or just a political narrative. The greater evil at play is Satan’s victories in annihilating what God creates.

This doesn’t extend just to babies either. Where is the stopping point for someone who makes up their own moral code? What about the elderly in nursing homes who can no longer “contribute” to society? What about the disabled?

It’s ironic that in this modern era we consider ourselves so sophisticated and tolerant, as long as we’re not inconvenienced. I think one of the ways we can contribute to fight for life is through prayer. Don’t be fooled into thinking prayer is a passive tool. It is a valuable weapon for the believer. Use it and use it often. The only way a person who sides with abortion will ever see the truth is for their hearts to soften. God can do that. Sometimes when we need to justify our sin we become blind to the truth standing right in front of us.

Abortion is barbaric.

 Abortion annihilates humans.

 Abortion destroys so many lives left in the aftermath.

 We can help pick up the pieces. We can bring hope to men and women by showing them another way. One that leads not only to saving an actual life but healing for those caught in the lies and brokenness that the world applauds (Romans 1:32).

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Please go see this movie. This is an important movement we need to support. It is rated R for the violent scenes. Hello. Sometimes we have to look the truth in the face ourselves to remind us of the heartbreaking reality. Unfortunately our local Christian radio stations won’t advertise the film because it has an R rating. Perhaps because the movie isn’t exclusively Christian they won’t back it up?

Unplanned depicts real people in real life situations- it isn’t always tied up with a pretty bow. This is exactly who Christ came for. He redeems the messy, broken, and sin-sick. Us. Jesus finishes our stories. Hallelujah.

Grace upon grace,

April

p.s.- The previews to this movie are mostly garbage. I have no idea why they chose them with this particular film. Just letting you know ahead of time so maybe you can avoid seeing the previews. 

Made To Worship

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I’m reading right now the book of Jeremiah in the Bible. He has a tough message to give the people. They have pranced around in a masquerade as God’s people but did not really know Him. Their hearts were far from the Lord as they paid Him lip service, deluded into thinking their Abrahamic lineage could save them.

This is what the Father tells Jeremiah to say:

“My people have committed two sins: 

They have forsaken Me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, 

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

-Jeremiah 2:13

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Israel ran to worthless idols, forsaking God and binding themselves as slaves to lifeless, manmade objects. The people sought purpose, satisfaction and love apart from God, coming up empty, yet lusting for more. They loved their idols more than cultivating a genuine relationship with the Lord.

They loved their idols more…

It doesn’t sound much different than our world. And it isn’t just “us” pointing the finger at “them” and their depravity. I was convicted in reading Jeremiah’s words too. How often do I run after other things, ANYTHING, other than the One who created me?

Like chasing the wind in a desert, I can commit spiritual adultery too. Reading through this book is humbling. I want to daily bring myself before the Father asking Him to guide my decisions.

There is nothing new under the sun. I think it’s spiritually healthy for believers to take stock of where our treasures are. Do I want what God can give me, more than I want God? One is soul killing, the other soul saving.

Who or what satisfies you today?

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We can still be His children even when we stumble but it isn’t His plan for us. The Israelites abused God’s grace and patience. They had no real heritage with Him as they continued to reject God’s love. Those who continue to fight against the Creator doing as they please were never His to begin with.

God wants our hearts so that we worship Him alone.

We are made to be worshippers- and we all worship something. Is it the Lord? Let us not be deceived into spiritual complacency and compartmentalize God just on Sundays thinking “we’re okay” or good enough if we check a box.

Through His Son Jesus we are called to so much more. Chasing the temporary can’t bring contentment. He has equipped us together with all the saints to pursue Him in holiness, in love. We have the privilege to honor Christ today as humble warriors!

Delight in the One who gave everything for you. 

Believer, you are lavished in God’s consuming love. You are protected in Christ’s righteousness. You are guided by the Holy Spirit.

Anything other than our Father will let you down. That’s a promise. Trust in His wisdom for your life and worship God alone today.

Grace upon grace,

April

Fear and Doubt: The lies they tell us

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Hi friend! I’m over at Our Shared Tales today talking about my fears. You can click here to read the full post or this excerpt below. 

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Lately, I’ve started questioning whether it’s worth throwing my two cents into the ring of social media. There are a million voices, some with the same message of truth I write about. But after a while, the faces become faceless and I wonder, does it make any difference? It begins to feel like a circus show and I’m the clown.  My hands get clammy and my breathing grows shallow. Did I take up the wrong mission of longing to reach out to others, to speak truth into their lives? Or at the very least, leave them a blessing for the day. I ask myself, is it possible to encourage people in the virtual world or is it a waste of time? I sense the familiar feeling of fear creep up again- it rises from my belly to my throat, making me a little queasy.

Read the full post here…