Ready for another Wednesday night of Grace Equip! This will be our 7th meeting and it’s already been a great journey of learning and drawing closer to God through His Word. Some of the content we’ve covered so far includes: The doctrine of the Word of God, Bible study methods, incommunicable and communicable attributes of God, and The Trinity. Tonight’s topic? The Imago Dei (image of God)! 🛠 📚 ✝️ 💡
…equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ -Ephesians 4:12
“I’m learning we can handle a lot more than I think we can.”
My bride Casey text me that earlier this week and it’s been in my head ever since. She’s right. We’re spread pretty thin, out on the edge of our capacity, relying on God and seeking Him hour to hour, day to day…and we don’t want to be anywhere else.
There’s a measure of God that you can’t experience in the easier less hectic seasons of life. Being comfortable and having a sense of strength and control of life has it’s allure, but the Word tells us that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2Cor 12). His power is many times experienced on the other side of what we think we can accomplish in and of ourselves.
I read a lot/hear a lot about self care, me time, balance, etc and I understand and know all that has it’s place and time, but there can be a special kind of frustration that comes with constantly evaluating whether or not things are going as well as they should be. Crazy as it sounds living for yourself and always trying to be comfortable is downright exhausting! And, there’s a freedom in pouring yourself out for what you believe in, and what you know God wants you to do. There’s satisfaction in going to bed each night with your body exhausted and your heart full. And it’s in those times we get to say “I’m learning we can handle a lot more than I think we can.” Which, for us, is really just a way of saying “Jesus Christ is bigger than I realized.” I hope we get to keep on saying that, right on into Glory, where we can say it when we see Him face to face, and hear Him say “Well done.”
🙏🏼 ✝️ #LiveForMore
Friends, let’s not let the instances of evil and ugliness going on distract us from all the good, joy and kindness that’s going on too. Noteworthy that tons of hard working, servant hearted people will get up early tomorrow morning to go make sacrifices for the good of people they love. Schools will be buzzing with kids tomorrow and they’ll be met by teachers wanting make a difference in their lives. Friendships are forming and growing deeper. Families—moms, dads, and kids continuing to draw close make memories and form unbreakable bonds. There’s still people happy for each other’s good fortune and even able to cry with each other when the need arises. People still telling each other “i love you” and mean it. There’s also times with God in worship and prayer and in His word. Lots of little, but glorious things going on too—hugs, smiles, laughter, sunrises and sunsets, coffee, ice cream, and a good dog.
Bottom line is, a very good and gracious God keeps showing himself in a myriad of amazing ways. But we gotta be looking, looking up.
To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! – Psalm 123:1
Keep lookin up friends! We’re gonna be OK. No matter what today, this week, or 2020 holds, the Lord is still on the thrown 👑 Don’t for a second think that God has forgotten us. The cross is enough, the tomb is empty, victory is won, and our God reigns! #LookUp
It may sound dumb but Sunday after Dak’s injury, I told Casey that I wish I could talk to Dak for a few minutes. As much as I love sports, and am praying and hoping for his return, I’d like to remind him that life’s so much bigger than football. And that if he never plays another down again, the most important things about him haven’t changed. I’d remind him that he’s fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God Almighty and called, loved, and kept by the love of God in Christ Jesus.
God made Dak really really good at football. It’s a big part of who is. But it’s not who he is. I hope someone who really loves him is telling him that. 🏈 💙 🙏🏼 ✝️
Incidents like what happen to Dak can serve as a reminder to all of us. We are all just one step away from life altering injury, one breath away from illness, and all of life is fragile and can be taken at a moment’s notice. CS Lewis once said “don’t let your happiness depend on anything you can lose.” We can’t and wont lose God, no matter what. Everything can change, but God in unchanging.
We’re 26 days from the US presidential election, and King Jesus is on the throne 👑 And 27 days from now, or whenever they get all the mess counted and sorted out, King Jesus will STILL be on the throne 👑
Y’all don’t get mad thinking I’m saying this election isn’t important. It is. But not nearly as important as who is on the heavenly throne 👑 VOTE, and then trust God knowing that regardless of the outcome, King Jesus will STILL be on the throne 👑 For followers of Christ, EVERYTHING has to be kept in its rightful place by remembering the fact that no matter what, Jesus is Lord over all.
Y’all know how I sometimes try to remind us to #LookUp? Here’s the biblical inspiration behind that:
If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth…-Colossians 3:1-2
What are you seeking? Where’s your mindset? Any time things seem completely chaotic, which is often, you and I can LOOK UP, seek things above, set out minds on heavenly things, where Jesus is “seated at the right hand of God.”
To say that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the God is to say “Christ was invested with lordship over heaven and earth, and solemnly entered into possession of the government committed to him” (Calvin, Institutes). In short, JESUS IS LORD. He’s over all! And he loves us! The one who loves us so much he died to save us, is in charge of EVERYTHING. 🤯 💪🏼 ♥️ 👑
Y’all know who Waylon Jennings is? He’s not on tiktok 😅 Well, I once heard him sing 🎶It don’t matter who’s in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king🎶 Well, fair enough Waylon! But let me add this🗣🗣🗣: It don’t matter who’s in office, Jesus Christ is still the one and only REAL KING.👑
Recognize the lies of the Devil. He’s sly and manipulative. He’ll whisper to us “you’ve been doing so good.” He’ll read off our good works, church attendance, and devotion to us like it’s a holy resume. He’ll build us up and get us feeling prideful about our spiritual performance and then, out of nowhere, we hear “you deserve to indulge in a little sin.” NO. We have to recognize that lie for what it is. Sin is NEVER a reward for anything. It’s a pathway to death and destruction. It keeps us longer than we want to stay and costs us more than we want to pay. The real reward for being Christlike, IS BEING CHRISTLIKE. The best treasures are stored in Heaven and ALL the glory goes to God. Jesus said the truth will set you free. Don’t be enslaved by the Devil’s lies. Especially when he tries to turn our godliness into a prideful opportunity to fall into sin.
I recently heard a pastor talk about a “inner whisper” that for a long time he constantly heard that told him that he was a failure and that he was going to ruin everything. I appreciate his honesty. He’s not the only one I’ve heard say they’ve experienced something like that. Others might hear a different whisper, one that says you’re tough, you’ve got this, and you can make it on your own. That version of the voice may sound like a better alternative but the fact is they both ignore the most important voice—GOD, the voice of truth.
Here’s a couple of verses to combat each version of the whisper with the voice of truth:
•Whisper: you’re going to fail/blow it
•Voice of truth: God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7
•Whisper: you’ve got this and don’t need anyone or anything
•Voice of truth: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD… – Jeremiah 9:23-24
Parents let’s make sure our kids know we love them, even when they’re not playing sports.
I love me kids. I also love sports. That shouldn’t be a problem, but it can be. Sometimes when our when kids compete in sports it can make us (me) a little loony. Somehow we can get emotionally confused and our own personal competitive drive and desire to win gets wrapped up in our kid’s sports performance. Crazy right? Yep. That’s when we start criticizing the crap out of our kid for not playing better, or running down their coach like we know any better, or griping about the officiating. All this, even after the game is over. A game. A kid’s game. That we didn’t even play in. Like I said, LOONY. But I’ve been there.
So to help remedy this, several years ago I started just telling my kids after games, first and foremost, I LOVE WATCHING YOU PLAY. That helped a lot. And it’s so true isn’t it? We really do just love watching them play! We can just leave it at that. Boom. Dad/Mom of the year award might as well be coming in the mail, I’m pulling muscles patting my righteous self on the back! Right? Not so fast..Because if that starts to be the only time they hear us talk about love, we’ve got a problem. A big one. Because wayyyy more important than loving to watch them play, they need to know that I love THEM. Just them.
Completely separate from sports or anything performance related they need to hear and know that I LOVE THEM. At night before they go to bed, before we part ways in the morning, before we end a phone call, they need to hear I LOVE YOU. If we only talk about love when we talk about something our kids do or play, we’re giving them the impression that our love is conditional. And that ain’t the deal. We love them unconditionally, because most people won’t.
I’ve got 2 grown kids now. Both were athletes. I’m glad I told them that I loved watching them play. But I’m even more glad that to this day I just get to say I love you, and then they say it back to me. I love sports, but watching our kids play sports doesn’t last. Love does.
Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:8
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Matthew 5:6
Satisfied? If you’re not, the solution isn’t to keep trying to get more of whatever you’ve been chasing. The solution is to change the appetite of your heart. Jesus says satisfaction is found in wanting more of God. God’s love and majesty are not short on supply and He’s eternal, so there’s expiration date.
