Father God, as I was reading this week,
as I prepared to study your most remarkable attributes; I must
confess that I was awestruck by your practically
indescribable power. Father, you literally breathed life into
creation and that just blows my mind. And at the same time
you love us. In fact, John tells us you are love and that too
just is almost too amazing.
Amazing that the ultimate in
power loved us first and loves us still; that our Father in
Heaven loves us and loves us despite our blemishes and
shortcomings. Amazing that your majestic and eternal power contains within it the most wonderful and constant love for us.
Father, You love us so much that by your grace we have been
saved. You love us so much that you would send your Son to
rescue, to secure, to restore us to all eternity.
Father, thank you and we pray that this amazingly good news
would be our first thought, our paradigm, our world-view
and as such would guide our lives, our worship and praise of you. So
Father we do pray that our worship; our praise will always be spirit
filled and full of our love to you.
And Father we pray for our community that
more and more people would come to know your absolute
power and love, and would come to know your tender mercies.
Father, we pray that we will
be a community in awe of your greatness, your grace and
your love and that we would share that good news with
those around us. We pray that we would
welcome all that we encounter, that we would love as you love us.
Finally Father, we thank you for
your God breathed word. We pray your spirit will be with us all. Abba Father, we love you and pray these many things
in the most beautiful name of Jesus...Amen!
The older I get (maybe I should say the more experienced I get) the more I am
astonished by the love of our God, the love of our Lord and Savior! There is a new
(at least new to me) song out by Lauren Daigle called "How Can It Be" and it has this
line... "You gave your life to give me mine...how can it be?"
This thought just grabs me. Jesus gave his life to give me mine. He gives his all for
me such an undeserving one. He gave his life that I might have real life not just a life
of worldly and temporary things. He gave his life that I might experience and know
real love, that I might be restored, renewed, redeemed, re-born, that I might have a
real life for all eternity.
In Mark 10:45 Jesus tells us; "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Oh, how he loves us (to borrow
from David Crowder). And I guess to keep the musical influence going it brings to
mind a hymn written in the 1700s by Charles Wesley.
The title is "And Can It Be That I Should Gain" and it contains these lyrics...
"And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood! Died he for me?
Who caused his pain! For me? Who him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it
be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be that thou,
my God, shouldst die for me? "
Amazing Love Indeed!
Grace and Peace!
As part of our Church plant, we have started new community groups. I must say our
group is really coming together, really starting to care for one another, really
starting to experience what Bridges calls true community. I am so encouraged.
We are in the middle of a study called Gospel Centered Life, the study is one I have
done on several occasions, but each time I get a little more from it. Our group is
really opening up and really sharing and I think that is just wonderful, it is real
growth.
We just completed a discussion of Mission. In the study the author defines mission
as "anything that brings gospel-centered renewal/redemption to people, places and
cultures." Our discussion was wide ranging and we admitted that while some will be
called to missions in far away places, sometimes all our mission requires is for us to
walk across the street.
That lead to a heartfelt discussion on why we hold back. There were reasons,
concerns and they were varied; however, there was one thing everyone could relate
to: fear of rejection. We discussed the real need for building relationship, but the
bottom line was we need to trust Christ more.
It occurred to me that Christ didn’t fear rejection for us and as such we can remain
confident, we can trust, we can be assured that Christ will never reject us. So there
is no reason to fear the rejection of a neighbor, because Christ will never reject
us...He will always be there for us and we should share in that comfort, that love,
that acceptance, that good news.
Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for
the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Grace and Peace!
You know I am just more amazed by grace with each day. I know that sounds strange or impossible, but
it is true. With each day I just come to realize, understand and appreciate (and these words are not
strong enough) that I am only saved by grace, saved because Christ loved me.
I am reading another book on grace written by Jerry Bridges in 1994; “The Discipline of Grace.” In it
there is much insight into this thing called grace. There is great discussion on the human condition and our deep need for challenge, duty and obligation; our performance mindset. In the preface, Bridges notes that any “pursuit of
holiness must be motivated by the grace of God; else it can become oppressive and joyless.” That really
made me think about just what motivates us.
Obligation and duty just never succeed as a motivator for a lifetime, and really do become oppressive
and joyless but I think that it truly is human nature for us to feel this sense of duty and obligation. Is
there a way to break these oppressive and joyless chains? Jack Miller says we can by “preaching the
gospel to ourselves every day.” I love that and so desperately need that. I need to remind myself that I
was so loved by Christ; despite all my doubts, fears, failures; despite my worst and darkest actions;
despite my arrogance and pride; despite my ever apparent un-worthiness, that He would pay the
ultimate price, He would lovingly sacrifice all so that by the grace of God I might be rescued, restored,
and become a child of God for all eternity.
Again, I don’t have strong enough words, but can you see how my motivation might change? It might
change from duty and obligation to love; love for my rescuer and my savior. And that love might
become so overwhelming that it might be shared, that it might become my motivation! Bridges says
that “preaching the gospel to ourselves every day gives us hope, joy, and courage! Amen! (I know too
many exclamation points, but I got excited)
Again, Bridges points out that it was not duty or obligation that motivated the Apostle Paul, rather it was
“his constant heartfelt awareness of Christ’s love for him.” That was his motivation. So what would that
look like if it was truly our motivation? I think Galatians 5:6 tells us – it is our faith expressing itself
through love – love for the Father, love for the Son, love for the Holy Spirit and love for one another!
Father, please let the constant heartfelt awareness of Christ’s love become our motivation for a lifetime.
Father, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:14; Let Christ’s love compel us.
Grace and Peace!
