I think all if us at some point and to some degree want to outshine, one up, and “best” other people. It’s part of our flesh, especially men, to want to be better than the rest. Our world rewards this mentality-besting others is seen a achievement and advancement. 

I think a dangerous cataclysm arises when this mentality is brought into the church. As we lead, serve, and minister, the idea of doing better than others can easily creep in. We don’t acknowledge or recognize it at first. We see it as just walking under our gigging or calling, but if we aren’t careful, it will turn into an all out performance match. 

We can’t let this happen. What does God desire? He desires His servants to serve and pour out all things from one source-Jesus. He wants us to bring our best-but not compared to what others bring. It’s strictly between you and God. He desires YOUR best. Thats for all of us. And with that perspective He is pleased.

Romans 12:1 states “Give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him”

This passage shows us that we are living sacrifices to God. It made me think about sacrifices and the idea that God wants our best, not what is better then the person next to us, but OUR best. Looking back in the Bible to when the order of sacrificial offerings are outlined in the beginning of the book of Leviticus, something interesting and relevant surfaced. In this book, various sacrifices (offerings) are outlined. The animals and elements sacrificed could be different-bulls, goats, birds, grains, etc. So the sacrifice could look different, but there is one over-arching, extremely important detail. The sacrifice had to be the best. Unblemished, clean, choice. As long as this component was followed (alongside preparation) the Word states that it was a special gift to the Lord, and was a pleasing sacrifice (aroma). 

That I find amazing and so relevant to us today, as living sacrifices! All of us are different, uniquely gifted and crafted by God. We are all different, unique living sacrifices. But one thing must be consistent-we must bring our personal best to God. It’s not about being better than other people. It’s about pleasing God. And as the Word shows us, God is pleased when our best is given-each according to our different callings and gifting. So yes, our sacrifice will look different in some aspects, but it must be our best. Not compared and contrasted with each other, but to what God desires-pure and holy. If this is our passion, our desire, to please God, our best is required, and as a result we will see God use us in the ways He alone desires-which will be bigger, greater, and wider than anything we do when we are just trying to do better than those around us. It’s simply about pleasing Jesus, and that is exactly what we must do. 

So beginning my reading of the book of 1 Thessalonians, I found something interesting in the first chapter. Let’s look at the passage:

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10

8. And now the word of the Lord is ringing out from you to people everywhere, even beyond Macedonia and Achaia, for wherever we go we find people telling us about your faith in God. We don’t need to tell them about it,

9. for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.

10. And they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven - Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming judgement.

That is amazing! Paul didn’t even have to say anything about the Lord in the communities surrounding the church of Thessalonica, because they had seen the transformation power that Jesus had in the lives of its people. It says two things:

1. They told of the peoples faith

2. They talk about how the people turned away from idols to serve the living God.

The first one is obvious - the people believed in God. They confessed Jesus as Lord, and therefore were saved and Christ-followers. But moving onto the second aspect requires a close look.

They didn’t just end with saying they believed God. The people (church ;)) took it to the next level. They allowed this new found faith to totally transform their lives, from a group of idol worshippers to servants of the living God. Not only did they confess there faith, but there lives backed it up, and look at the impact on the community.

This presents a question to each of us - are we letting our lives be totally transformed by our faith in Jesus, or are we just confessing that we believe in Him, yet in all honestly place things before Him, don’t have time for, or simply become lazy. Last time I checked, serving is an action. It requires an effort. And the effort Jesus is asking us to is to allow Him to totally transform us so that we can be living witnesses of Him - not just by speech, but through every aspect of our lives. Who knows, if we allow this work to be our testimony, proven and backed up by our lifestyle, then we might just leave an entire area talking about our faith in Jesus. And that, my friends, is pretty cool.

Through various people I have talked to over the past week, as well as searching my own heart, I see a common place that believers are brought to and have a huge choice to make. This would be, therefore, a defining moment.

We often tie defining moments as to sports games, such as the “Immaculate Reception” by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team, or historical moments, such as the breakdown of communist Russia and infamous words of former President Ronald Reagan “tear down this wall,” or Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. These are defining moments.

But what makes them defining moments? Usually the moment involves an underdog, a decision, extreme opposition, or a group in need of a leader. Simply put, a crossroad, where a decision made will change the course of events and in turn have large affects, close to home and abroad.

So what about these defining moments in our walk with God? As I mentioned earlier, I have talked with a handful of people who, just this past week, are at what you would call a crossroad. A point in life where God is calling you to lay everything down, to set aside your own ambitions and dreams, and make a choice. Am I willing to sacrifice everything and walk into the unknown, where Jesus is? Am I truly desiring God to take hold of everything? What if it’s not what I want? But how can God use me, I’m not even at a “spiritual mountaintop.” Emotions can run high with this moment, with fear as to whats to come, or anger with the old person, struggling to come to grips with what’s ahead. This leads us to one of the most intense struggles in life: the wrestle between spirit and flesh. Between God’s plans and my own. Basically, between my ways, or God’s highways.

It can be frustrating, scary, and all-together nerve-racking to be in the place. I know. I’ve been there. But how about this perspective: God has brought you to the place where He is asking you for everything. He knows your heart. You’ve prayed it for years. You want to do God’s will in life and truly serve Him. Great! God has been hearing that prayer from you, and now is the time He wants to use you and take you into the next season in Him. He wants you. He knows you can do it. But it is going to require everything. Laying down yourself so that all you have left is knowing Jesus has complete control over your life, and you are willing to do what He desires, and that alone. What a beautiful opportunity! Yet in this season, we wrestle so much, making the decision difficult. But, guess what?! Count it joy that God is working in you, and has you at this place. Some people may never reach such a crossroad in their Christian walk, but God has brought you to this very place. How humbling to know that! How much praise needs brought forth to God! This is taking the Scripture straight to heart that states “consider it joy when corrected by God”1 and “When troubles come, consider it joy!”2

Well my friends, this I would say is a defining moment. And I want to look at one individual in the Bible who had this very encounter with God, and a defining, lifechanging moment.

Let’s look at the encounter Jacob had with God (Genesis 32:22-30):

 ²² During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. ²³ After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

 ²⁴ This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. ²⁵ When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. ²⁶ Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

   But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

 ²⁷ “What is your name?” the man asked.

   He replied, “Jacob.”

 ²⁸ “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel,^[c] because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

 ²⁹ “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

   “Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

 ³⁰ Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” ³¹ The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel,^[d] and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. ³² (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.)

Jacob literally wrestled with God. Isn’t that how we feel sometimes when we are at a crossroads in our walk? We wrestle with God, throwing all the “what if’s” and “I cant’s” at Him, all a while He is trying to refine, mold, and shape us!

Look at what happened. The man (angel of God) that Jacob wrestled with touched his hip and sent it out of place. From that defining moment, Jacob walked with a limp. Check it out - his walk was not the same - he knew God had touched him, and only after that, could he continue in what he was called to. It changed his walk forever.

See guys, that’s what these defining, life-changing moments result in us, if we allow them to - changing our walk with God forever. God will touch us, direct us, and guide us, so that as we continue in walking with Him, and doing what we are called to, it was and is only by His power, and His changing us that brought us through to the next level. This in fact, will change your life forever.

God desires a people who serve Him because they love Him, and He uses those who are willing to give up everything for Him. So if you are at a defining moment in your life (and just to be clear - this “moment” can be an entire season!), allow God to work. Trust your ENTIRE life over to His hands, and watch your path unfold and develop in ways none of us could ever imagine. We want God’s impact felt in our lives and through our lives. The only way we can feel that and for it to last is to encounter God Himself - even to the point of wrestling.

It always amazes me how much we can receive from just one or two passages of Scripture. As we all know, we can even read the same passage ten times, and receive something different, something specific to the exact situation we find ourselves in. That happened to me last night as I was reading. Here are the two verses that popped off the page and onto my heart:

Colossians 3:14 and 15:

Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.

What an amazingly full set of Scripture. It’s like a candy bar with every imaginable sweet inside. In just two verses, we have 3 keys to our daily Christian walk:

1. Clothe yourself with love. Just like getting dressed, we choose to put on love. When picking out what shirt to wear in the morning, how about picking out love as well!
2. Let peace rule in your heart. Again, something we can choose. Are we going to receive Christ’s peace and let it guide our hearts, or are the troubles of the day going to steal the joy and peace that only Christ can give? Ask Jesus to speak the words “Peace be still” over your life.
3. Always be thankful. How much more light would we shine for Jesus is we thanked Him for every blessing, provision, step, mountain, and even valley that we go through each day. With this attitude, the world truly will know that Jesus changes everything!

So in this short passage, we have a daily “wardrobe” that we can choose to put on. Do yourself a favor today, and clothe yourself in all of God’s promises!

This is the message I had the humble privilege of preaching last Sunday:

Jesus was the Son of God – it was this act of God sending His only Son to this earth – this display of Father-Son relationship that brings at any rate God’s love into reality, and in some small way we can understand because it reflects an earthly relationship. Today we celebrate Father’s Day, and as we celebrate, we can and should direct our attention to our Heavenly Father, with whom our relationship with is only capable through the gift of Jesus Christ. Think about that – if God had not sent Jesus as His Son, among so many other things, this display of Father God’s love would never have been understood tangibly by us.

So what does this mean, Jesus is the Son of God?

It means that Jesus was of His Father – God. He shared and continues to share the very “DNA” of His Father…that’s what makes the amazingly unique and sometimes mind-blowing idea of Jesus being both human and God. As the Son of God, there were things He had to endure and submit to as His Father willed. He had to obey, grow, and walk in the guidance of Almighty God.

Ok. So what does this mean to us?

We need to look at this perspective of Jesus as Son of God because check this out: we share the same Heavenly Father. How amazing is that! We are children of God as it says so many times in the Word of God.  If you don’t believe me let’s read it: Galatians 4:4-7:

“But when the right time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent Him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that that He could adopt us as His very own children. And because we are His children, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are His child, God has made you His heir.”

Declare this over your life: “I am a child of God.”

So the relationship and responses that Jesus had can teach us an invaluable lesson of how we should live as children of God, as well an example to father’s on what it truly means to love their children.

1. Jesus was wrapped in the love of His Father

Familiar Passage: John 3:16 –“For God so loved…” God so loved. He sent His Son. It was out of this love that Jesus was sent to Earth. God’s Child was in itself Love. We, as children of God, are wrapped in the love of our Heavenly Father! But sometimes, actually a lot of time, I don’t think we walk with that knowledge or recognize it. With a perspective that God loves us, that can transform our mundane, daily perspective into one of excitement, perseverance, and trust.

Fathers, I will challenge you: are your children wrapped in your love? Do they know that they are loved by their dad? Let God be the example of Perfect Love from a Father.

2. Jesus walked in truth (obedience)

Jesus walked according to the truth. He lived with the Word as the basis of His life (He is the Word made flesh, btw . See John 1:1). Being God, He walked in perfect truth, yielding to the Father in all He spoke. I think so often we place a picture of Jesus in our mind that separates us from who He truly is. The Word says that Jesus spent time with Almighty God, would rise early in the morning and pray, and commune with His Father. This laid a foundation of not only a relationship with Him, but also a foundation of truth, assurance, and obedience in God. He had a very direct response to seeing His Son walk in obedience: Let’s turn to Matthew 3:13-17:

Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. But John tried to talk him out of it. “I am the one who needs to be baptized by you,” he said, “so why are you coming to me?” But Jesus said, “it should be done, for we must carry out all that God requires.” So John agreed to baptize Him. After His baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on Him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

Jesus’ obedience to what the Father directed Him to do brought God great joy!

What an amazing display Jesus walking in truth and His Father’s response. And what this means to us: we bring Almighty God joy when we are walking obediently to His Truth – His Word! Just think about that! You know, in the book of Zephaniah it says that God delights in you (3:17). What an emotion. But are we holding our end of the promise – we must walk according to the truth. We must walk obediently to what God commands us. What does this mean?

1.Walking by the Word of God – It’s our Manual to live! Everything is in that book. It is complete truth, and nothing new will be revealed that doesn’t align with the Word of God!

2.Walking by God’s direct commands to us – God speaks today. Let me say that again…God speaks today! And what are you doing with what God is saying? We have the choice whether to reject, or obey.

3.Walking by the Holy Spirit. It’s no surprise that Paul in His writing devotes chapters to walking according to the Holy Spirit. Remember what He is? Our helper, compass, reveals the thoughts of the Father! And we must obey and daily ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in all we do!

It scares me to think, if we bring joy to God when we obey Him, what does God feel when we don’t? What a conviction! I think to myself, “May I strive to never cease bringing joy to my God.” Is that your heart this morning? If so, that requires something. We must give up ourselves, what we want to do, and surrender everything to God and say, “Have your way God. I want to follow You.” That brings Him joy.

And look at Paul, reiterating this perceptive in His Words from 3 John 4:

“I have no greater joy than this than to see my children walking in the truth”

Proverbs 10:1 states: “a wise child brings joy to his Father.”

I pray the same is true for father’s in here today, that you delight in your children, and you have joy in seeing your sons and daughters growing in the things of God, and that you let them know that you have joy. Now I’m sure you can’t always say they bring joy! But when they are making right decisions, and serving Jesus, that should bring ultimate joy.

3. Jesus submitted His will to God’s Will

So we have looked at Jesus and how much the Father loved Him, His Son. We also looked at how Jesus walked in obedience to the Truth, and how we bring God joy when we ourselves do so as well. Finally, let’s look at Jesus’ will. Jesus had a choice. He could decide to do His own thing or that of God. Satan even tempted Him on this when Jesus was in the wilderness. Jesus never chose His own. He always submitted to what Almighty God willed. Let’s look at a real example of this: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here the Son of God desperately spoke to His Father, saying “If you can do anything else, please pass this cup from me….but I don’t want to get in the way of what you want to do, so not my will, but Your will be done Father.”Look at how Jesus responds. He follow God’s will. This ultimately led to the Cross, and thank God for the cross. We must carry out how Jesus responds in our own lives. All too often we say “But God, But God….but WHAT! What if Jesus said “But God” prior to His sacrifice. Where would we be? Many of us today are waiting for god to move and work in our lives but the reality is He is and we are totally ignoring or missing it! We don’t see or don’t allow it because we are not submitting our will to God!

God loves you so much that His will for you is the best. Remember as the Scripture says…I make all things work for good for those who….what? Love their Heavenly Father. A life that is not submitted to God’s will, His calling, and purpose is a life that will always be wavering, searching for more, unsatisfied, and ultimately unfulfilled. God has called to live an abundant life, but that life must be submitted to Him. It requires everything. It requires SACRIFICE. Look at Jesus – HE WAS THE SACRIFICE! Once again look to Jesus. He obeyed His Heavenly Father. He submitted everything to Him. And we must do the same.

James 1:16:

So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. He chose to give birth to us by giving us His true Word. AND WE, OUT OF ALL CREATION, BECAME HIS PRIZED POSSESSION.”

Today, allow God, in His beautiful mercy, to do what He alone wants to do in and through you. When you submit your will and align your vision to Gods – that’s when you see Him work, that’s when you see impossible things happened, you walk in the amazing knowledge that you belong to God and nothing is going to separate that, and finally, that you are fulfilling God’s call on your life, and bringing Him ultimate joy, as He looks down on you, and says, this is my child, whom I AM WELL PLEASED.

As I was spending some time with the Lord today, I looked out the window as a storm was passing through.  Through the dark clouds there was a small break, and through that break you could see lighter clouds, and a glimmer of blue sky.  I thought to myself, wow, that storm was dark and intense, yet the entire time the clear sky never left. It was just covered up by dark, storm laden clouds.  This is exactly what it is like when storms in our lives blow through.  It can be dark, intense, and stormy. Yet God never left.  He was and is always there.  I think so often we focus on the storm, and how hard it is, yet neglect the fact that if you peel away the layers of the storm, God never left, and is still there with us.  What a comfort.  No wonder why in the the New Testament account, all Jesus had to say was “Peace be still,” and the storm and waves ceased.  Although we may let the storm block our view of Jesus, may we not forget that our God is bigger than the storm, and it just three words, it all stops.  What in your life do you need Jesus to command the storm to depart? Remember, He is always there.

Sometimes a passage can captivate my thoughts for an extended period of time. And at times so much where my mind races to connect the meaning of what something is.  This afternoon, finding myself quiet before the Lord, I opened His Truth and began to read in the psalms, coming across a verse that penetrated my mind, heart, and soul:

“The Lord is my strength and my song; He has given me victory” - Psalm 119:14.

Now at first glance, this verse, possibly even familiar, may not be striking. So often in our time of reading the Bible we glaze past passages, thinking the general, and moving on. Please understand, that is not necessarily a bad thing, for the general, when it comes to God’s Word, it revolutionary and life changing. But today, this passage required more thought.

We can fairly easily explain the Lord being our strength. The Bible says clearly that He is our defense, that as we wait on Him we are renewed with His strength.  He is Almighty God, ruler of the all, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As we trust in Him, and rest in His presence, we ca be sure that God is going before us, and that He has and will equip us with absolutely everything we need (see Philippians 4:19).

So we can grasp that. But the Lord is our song?

This phrase made me sit and think. I’ve read this multiple times, but truly, how is God our song? What are the characteristics of song?

Starting there, what is a song? It is a melody, harmonious, a poetic composition.  We all know this - we find ourselves singing songs all the time.  But is God our song? I feel this has two applications:

First, we have categories of songs. We have love songs, we have sad songs, happy songs, rock songs, and on and on.  What are our God songs? And to follow that, WHERE are our God songs?  These are the songs about and directed to God. Declarations of His love, faithfulness, might, power, and glory. Shouts of joy and jubilation. We know these songs. Some are even familiar. But where are they? Are they our song just on Sunday’s when we are worshipping, or is God our daily song, and fruit of our lips, lifting Him high? And what about those new songs? I’m not talking about the “hot-off-the-press” songs on the radio, not at all. I’m talking about the spiritual new songs of the day. David admonished us in the psalms to “sing a new song to the Lord.” What is this new song? It’s the song of our heart, led by the Holy Spirit, where we offer praise to God from ourselves to Him, not following a written song, but expressing our love and devotion to Him.  And not only love and devotion, but these melodies can be songs of distress, loss, sadness, pointed to the Giver of Life Himself. Look at the psalms for a moment. If all of them start with “praise to the Lord for I am always filled with joy and nothing is wrong” then you have a different Bible than me! David poured out his song of God from the place he was in - real, authentic songs. And isn’t that what a song about God should be? Real, authentic, and true, for God alone is real, an the one true God!

Secondly, a song is also a soundtrack, setting the mood, atmospere, and tone of an entire environement.  If movies were made without music, it would be amazing at how much would be lacking. So this lends to the challenge again of God being our song.  Does the song of our life reflect Jesus. Do people pick up on the atmosphere that something is different in our lives? And where do we take that song? Can people here it? Or is it muffled - or even a different subject matter?

What an amazing phrase penned: The Lord is my strength and song. Just as we ask God to give us His strength, ask God to give you a song of Himself. Let it ring loud and be the soundtrack of your life.

This morning I just had these verses from Lamentations going through my mind:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end
They are new every morning
great is Thy faithfulness!

What promise and assurance we find in this passage:

1. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. God’s love is not subject to changing - it remains constant, and never runs dry, not even when we are in weakness, stressed, neglect Him, or sin. His love remains the same and is so much more than enough to sustain us for this day and every day after.

2. His mercies never come to an end. I love a particular definition of mercy, that states: compassionate treatment of those in distress. This speaks two fold. Without Jesus our lives are in distress.  And what compassion is lavished on all of us, that we are saved through Jesus Christ and brought into relationship with God.  Secondly, as the verse describes, this mercy never comes to an end - it covers us, and anytime your may feel distressed, remember the amazing mercies of our God.

3. They are new every morning. Praise God! Every day is a fresh start.  I encourage you this morning, invite God into every aspect of your day, and let yourself be showered in the unending mercy and love of our great God - trust me that is more than enough to sustain us for today.

4. Great is thy faithfulness! It never hurts to end is an exclamation of priase to God - actually it’s one of the best things to do! The Bible admonishes us to give thanks and praise to God in all things.  So let your praise ring out today for the greatness of our God.

On my mind today is this: how we often mis-label, mis-tag, and mis-identify ourselves.  That’s a lot of mis’s! 

The idea of labeling or tagging (facebook reference?) regularly fashions a negative connotation, so for sake of this post, I will now use the phrase, who we are.  And the questions is just that. Who are we?

It is so easy to loose sight of who, you and I, have become once we have entered into the beautiful relationship of knowing Jesus Christ.  But we seem to miss what that precious covenant changes. It’s more than just a relationship status. It is an entire transformation of who we are, and if allowed, can and will infiltrate our entire being, and with that, every area, circumstance, decision, and outlook of our lives. 

So in dwelling on this topic, I wanted list just a few things of who we are in Christ, as a reminder, that was we go through our daily walk, we are so much more than a person, much much more than a professional worker, single, married, wealthy, poor, or hungry person (I am a little hungry writing this!) We label ourselves with these titles. But why not use these:

• We are the Children of God.  See Galatians 4:4.  We are sons and daughters of the Most High.  We are part of God’s family, and how He loves His children! You are a child of God! Our Father is all we need, our sole sufficiency!
• We are the Redeemed. See Galatians 3:13. What does it mean to be redeemed? We have been bought, purchased back by a price.  Do you know what that price was? Jesus Christ.  Through His sacrifice for us, we can enter into a relationship with God.  Take a stand today as the redeemed of the Lord!
• We are Heirs. See Hebrews 9:16/Revelation 21:6.  That in itself sounds great, doesn’t it? You are an heiress! An amazing inheritance awaits those whom the Lord calls His own - the Kingdom of God!
• We are Conquerors. See Romans 8:31 and 37. In Christ we have the victory. Remember, if God is for us, WHO can be against us?! Absolutely nothing. That’s reassuring!
• We are Friends of God. See John 15:15.  I absolutely love this concept and passage.  God doesn’t consider us slaves. No He chooses to call us friends.  With that intimacy comes a relational dynamic. We talk with God, converse, spend time with Him, and He with us.  What a beautiful thing.  I can hear everything now singing “I am a Friend of God..” Sing it out! Yes you are!
• We are Forgiven.  See Matthew 26:28.  Praise God for the fact that we are indeed forgiven. Jesus’ blood was shed to cover the sins of our yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  How precious this is, and something not to be taken for granted.

This list is just a glimpse of who we are in Christ.  The trouble is however, as a song by Jars of Clay puts it, that we don’t know who we are instead.  Today, and everyday, reflect on who you are in Christ, and trust me, it will change everything!

We all have heard this phrase before. Out of brokenness good things come.  Today as I was resting in God’s presence I was reminded of this theme, yet struck with its appropriate timing.

When we think of a season of brokenness, what are some things that mark that place? Barrenness, the absence of God’s voice or sense of direction, in a valley, possibly even somewhat unclean, not worthy, lowly? The list could go on and on, but we all have experienced this seasonal weather. 

But out of such season, God’s amazing work is seen.  There are some Biblical events that draw on this redemptive work, nearly prophetic to speak into our lives of how brokenness is the night before the dawn of increase.

The Israelites.  The Israelites waited a long, long time to enter into the promise that God had for them: the Promised Land.  In actuality, an entire generation had to be taken away before they could inherit that which was theirs from God.  This took forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  I’d say that’s a definite season of brokenness! Doesn’t it feel like we are wondering through the wilderness in our season of brokenness? Yes – and you can see the parallel.  God was preparing the nation for what they were about to enter into – a new, fresh chapter of their walk.  But before they could enter into what God had planned next, they had to be stripped away from what held them back – their past.  Some may say that was harsh, but I say that is beautiful. And God’s hand in our life works the same way.  Sometimes in our broken state God uses that time to wipe away what holds us from growing in Him – our past, sins, strongholds, walls, etc.  And this births something beautiful. For the Israelites, it was the land promised to their forefathers.  For us, it’s entering into a season of new heights in the Lord, opportunities, and growth.

The Manger. We are familiar with the account of Jesus’ birth.  There was no room at the inn, and therefore Mary and Joseph found rest in a stable.  What was the stable like? Dark, dirty, smelly, and uncomfortable.  Doesn’t that sound like brokenness? In that season we feel uncomfortable, sometimes spiritually smelly, dark, and neglected.  But what was the stable a foundation and back drop for? The most amazing event ever to happen in humanity: the birth of the Son of God.  It wasn’t by coincidence that God ordained such a setting for the birth of Jesus.  Let’s apply this to our lives.  First the fact that Jesus resides in us is in itself a parallel.  But beyond this, out of our brokenness there is an amazing event that takes place.  God turns our mourning in joy and makes beauty from the ashes we find ourselves in.  And it births the amazing love and work of God!

Winter transforms to spring. What an amazing natural reflection of this concept! I don’t know about you, but I love being out in nature.  It truly adds to my appreciation of God’s creation and His amazing creativity.  Once again, I don’t think its coincidence that we can see His truths represented here as well.  Winter represents a cold, quiet, dark season.  Hmm, I think that sounds like brokenness again! And when it almost seems like we can’t take the cold anymore, when we all want to move to the warmth, something remarkable happens.  We start to a touch a color, a bud of life here and there.  And then almost instantaneously we a swept away from the cold, barren season of winter into the burst of life that spring brings.  When we are in a dark, barren season, it almost feels like we can’t hold on.  We almost can’t make it. But at this point where we lose our own strength in trying to make it ourselves, God’s strength entirely takes over and that’s when we see it.  A ray of light here.  A spark of life there.  And then all of a sudden our lives burst forth with amazing renewed life in God, filled with passion and fervor.  This indeed is something beautiful.

So in all of this, it is so true to say that brokenness births beauty.  Though sorrow lasts for the night, joy breaks with the dawn.  It’s a new day. Embrace the work of the Lord and allow beauty to be birthed from your season of brokenness.

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
What was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You
And how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be
As You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

-lyrics from Nichole Nordeman’s “Every Season”