reflections

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

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

Perfect Love (Short Reflections)

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“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” 

1 John 4:18

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When I am abiding in the Spirit (perfect love) I don’t fear that I am not His. I’m not afraid of losing His love or of being rejected. I have peace and confidence that not only is Christ keeping me, but He is continually doing a good work in and through me.

To be like Him.

When I am set in this truth He makes my face like flint, burying my roots deeper as I draw life giving water from His well.

***

So what does abiding look like in our day to day lives?

*Seeking God’s Presence in His Word daily to learn and listen and grow

*Prayer throughout the day that’s more like a conversation with a friend, who happens to also be the God of the Universe.

*Memorizing Scripture- this one is hard for me but always worth the challenge. Learn by heart a few verses to carry with you during your day when you can’t have your Bible open in front of you. It’s a blessing to give your future self in those moments.

This list isn’t comprehensive, but it can nudge us in the right direction. Start with one today. When we abide in the Lord, He helps us remember just how much He loves us by pointing us back to the Cross.

Christ is our Perfect Love.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

Growing in grace

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If you haven’t noticed, on Fridays I’m taking time to post short reflections or prayers. Hopefully you are encouraged by them. This is a prayer from the Valley of Vision. It would make a great Christmas gift for someone, or for yourself 🙂

May you grow in God’s grace today. Blessings to you.

Spiritual Growth

“May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,

the same alone as in company, […]

May I never be satisfied with my present

spiritual progress, […]

May I never neglect what is necessary to constitute Christian character, […]

May I cultivate the expedient,

develop the lovely, adorn the Gospel,

recommend the religion of Jesus,”…

 

 

Grace upon grace,

April

 

 

Immanuel

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Love came down quietly, like through the backstage door.

Jesus chose a humble birth of lowly means to parents without money or status. He was delivered in a first century barn surrounded by stench and filth.

Christ became flesh, experiencing life as we do yet did not sin.

He appeared at the appointed Time in history to turn His kingdom upside down from the expectations of the world.

Taking on our humanity Jesus became ‘Immanuel’, “God with us”.

Always.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

Love without End

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God is Greater Than,

more Beautiful, Wonderful,  or Powerful

than I can fully understand.

He spoke Everything into existence,

faithful to hold all things together.

By His command I am at His mercy.

Yet this Almighty, Divine Lord also moved in Love, toward people who would disobey Him, reject His Son, and hate Him or anyone claiming to be His children.

But He also knew that some would not rebel forever- fellowship restored.

His Greatness consumed my insignificance and wrapped it in unending love.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

the blessings of rain

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It’s raining, so the window is cracked open to hear the steady rhythm. Sometimes the drops rush down so fast that the sky seems to be pouring out.

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Funny how we’re so self sufficient in modernity but still rely on the heavens to open up for something as simple, yet vital, like water.

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God is a Gardener not just to our souls but tends to even the basic physical needs too. No detail of our humanity and spirits is overlooked by the Sovereign Creator.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

How should Christians vote?

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“I have revealed and saved and proclaimed-

I, and not some foreign god among you.

You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“that I am God.

Yes, and from ancient days I am He.

No one can deliver out of my Hand.

When I act, who can reverse it?”

Isaiah 43:12-13

These are the words of the Lord. They are absolutely true and trustworthy.

God is the same God in 2018 as He was in 18 A.D. He does not “evolve” but is the Great I AM yesterday, today, into eternity. He always has been and will be.

Next week will be the mid-term elections. Whatever happens is under Sovereign Providence. We vote but we also pray and trust in the Lord. Because He is holding all things together.

God is at work and none can stop Him, not even the pits of hell.

Praise the Lord.

 

Grace upon grace,

April

Summer storms

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I know the rain is coming. People with bad knees feel it in their bones. I get a sinus headache 12-24 hours in advance.

The water leaks out of the sky first like tiny droplets. Then rain pours down harder and harder, as if someone climbed on top of the roof with an endless bag of pebbles to drop on my back porch.

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Thunder is my favorite- it comes from the deep recesses of the earth, grumbling and booming to make its presence known. I believe God orchestrates each rainstorm like a symphony- the rhythmic order of rain falling from the heavens harmonizes with thunder and lightning.

Ping ping,

Pitter patter,

Tap tap,

Whoosh-

Boom!

Boom!

Flash.

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The wind sometimes contributes with a howl. Its a grand theatre of the dramatic right in my backyard. Then all is hushed and the show is over just as fast as it began. The musical numbers are all alike, yet never the same are they? It’s part of the allure in watching a thunderstorm- the familiar sounds mixed with the unknown of when each part takes a turn.

I smile with satisfaction at His creative genius, the One who controls nature. His fingerprints are every where to shout out the truth we all know-

God is more real than the rain He lets fall on our faces.

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Grace upon grace,

April