Pressing On In His Footsteps

2 Corinthians 1:3-11 (Phillips) Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For He gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of His encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble, we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.

^8-11 We should like you, our brothers, to know something of what we went through in Asia. At that time, we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end. Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead. It was God who preserved us from imminent death, and it is he who still preserves us. Further, we trust him to keep us safe in the future, and here you can join in and help by praying for us, so that the good that is done to us in answer to many prayers will mean eventually that many will thank God for our preservation.

Observation

Paul certainly was qualified to talk about troubles.  He had many as he traveled among the unsaved to share the Gospel.  In spite of all that he experienced, he saw troubles and trials not as barriers to what God wanted done but rather as opportunities to trust in God and grow in faith – “At that time we were completely overwhelmed, the burden was more than we could bear, in fact we told ourselves that this was the end.  Yet we believe now that we had this experience of coming to the end of our tether that we might learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in God who can raise the dead.”  

Paul tells us that it is in our difficult and trying times that we will find Jesus more present to bring comfort.  He even says trouble is the pathway to equipping us to bring that same comfort and encouragement to others in their desperate times.  “For He gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs.”  So, rather than crying out to God for rescue as we feel like we are hanging on to the end of our ropes, Paul tells us to cry out to God to teach us – in that moment, that place, that experience – how to trust even more in Him so we can become His instrument of comfort, encouragement and grace to others who are also finding themselves at the end of their ropes.  

Impact on Me

Paul is asking me to change my perspective about the journey from the beginning to the end of my rope.  Normally, there is panic, hopelessness, fear as I get closer to the end of the rope.  Of course, I have been praying as I was sliding all the way down the rope.  However, as I get nearer to the end, I tend to cry out things like, “God, are you listening?  Have you forgotten my address?  Don’t You see what’s going on here?”  Generally, the closer to the end of the rope, the more the focus is on my predicament, God’s seemingly poor timing and what I can do to keep from falling off.  Am I alone in this?

Paul is asking me to keep my focus on God in my desperate times because He never stops listening or seeing me.  He always knows exactly where I am in the journey along the rope.  If I will look to and for Him as I slide down that rope, I will not only find Him faithful and right on time, but also learn how to comfort and encourage others who find themselves in the same predicament.  While the journey down my rope might have different causes than someone else’s, comfort and encouragement from the Holy Spirit will perfectly fit moment of every trip down the rope.

Prayer

Father God, You always have my best at heart. You are more interested in my character than my comfort, teaching me to walk by faith rather than live by superficial duty and tradition, taking me on the life journeys that will allow me to experience Your presence and peace rather than the easy ways I would choose. Help me to look for You and to You in every difficulty so the trouble does not become bigger than Your working within me through it. Change my perspective so I never lose Your light in my darkest circumstances and will be able to bring Your comfort and care to others who feel they are approaching the end of their ropes. Make it so, in Jesus’ name.

Romans 12 :1-3 NKJV I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. ³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 

Romans 12:1-3 MSG So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. ³ I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.

Observation

The great commandment can be summed up by “Love God with all you have and are and love others in the same way and with the same passion as you want to be loved.”  The commandment says nothing about me being loved, but that is the point.  In God’s call to become selfless is His promise to care and provide for us – “God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering…. fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out…. God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”  All of this is what God is prepared to do in us when we trust Him enough to focus on love God and love others above ourselves.

Because Paul understands how we are as humans, he says he must remind us “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think” because of any recognition or praise we get for our actions.  God determines what gifts He gives and to whom.  If any of us begin to think our gift or the recognition by others of it makes us more spiritual or special in God’s eyes, we have missed it.  Part of placing our lives before God as an offering is accepting the call on our lives without wishing we had someone else’s or becoming inflated with pride because our gift gains recognition.  Immediately after these verses, Paul speaks about the body and how every part needs to function for the body to work efficiently.  Clog up an invisible part and the whole body suffers! 

Impact on Me

This chapter is a place I come to remind myself of the practical outpouring of love to God and others.  The last half is my challenge.  Paul lists ways to enforce that sacrifice on in my everyday life.  I don’t know that taking up that challenge would be possible without embracing the verses that precede that get the focus off me! 

If I will commit to become that living sacrifice by putting myself fully in His hands, God will gift me as He sees best, something that will bring true satisfaction and fulfillment to me.  In that surrender of all that I think I need, want or dream to be, I will receive His best because only God can truly know what will thrill my heart. “The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”  I pray that I am done telling God how to run my life!  I am ready to listen and obey.

Prayer

Lord God, Almighty and Everlasting Father, Creator, Savior, Lover of my soul, I come to you with praise and gratitude for Who You are and What You have done for me.  All that I choose to do for You is done by You working in and through me, leaving behind the blessing and grace to mature me in the process.  Remind me always that my best will always be accomplished by faithfully walking in the footsteps You place before me, being a support to others that endeavor to do the same, and encourage those who have wandered to find the way back.  I ask this all in the name of Jesus.  Make it so.

Ephesians 2:4-10 (MSG).  Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.  7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Ephesians 2:4-10 (NASB) 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Observation

The day-to-day distractions of living and working can drift us into being self-focused, causing us to forget that we are the creation of His hands, made to do His work in the course of that day-to-day living and working.  I am grateful that salvation is a continuous process rooted in that immense grace and great love and will patiently and continually work in us while we live on this earth!  Knowing that gives us hope that, when we do fail, He is never surprised and has yet another dose of grace to help us do better the next time. Like a baby when it takes the first step and then falls down, He is excited that we took a step, then lifts us up and encourages us to take another. He tells us that we are created to fulfill His plan, His dreams, not the plans and dreams of our own making, and some of our failures arise from trying to hold Him to our expectations rather than listening to/following His instructions so that we can live up to His expectations. We the redeemed can forget in the distraction/busyness of living out our daily lives that we were saved/raised up/seated with Him in heavenly places simply because He loves us past reason and will continue to do so for all eternity regardless of our condition, our response, our faithfulness – “that He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Impact on Me

I have been reflecting on grace lately – how precious is it to me?  Do I live by and treat others according to the grace I have received, a grace that flows from our God Who is “immense in mercy and with an incredible love”?  Do I allow the generous outpouring of grace to evoke joy and celebration every day regardless of the challenges or troubles I experience?  Do I expect/allow that grace to be sufficient to every need?  Do I treasure Jesus’ sacrifice (which made this grace available to me) or allow it to become common or taken for granted?  How do I respond moment-by-moment to that immensity/richness of mercy and “great love with which He loved us” which provided salvation (redemption/healing/restoration) when I could do nothing to deserve or earn it? Is Jesus really my only hope, my primary source, my all-in-all or do my plans, my experience, my training, my rights hold more sway in how I respond?  Do I really perceive/accept that saving grace is a gift only God can give and that He chose to give it to me?  “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish!” 

Prayer

My God and Father, Savior, giver of grace, I want to be a fountain, a waterfall, of Your mercy, peace, reconciliation, restoration, and grace, grace, grace – so that others might come to know You because they experience Your love, mercy and grace through me. Lord, may I be no hindrance to You in flowing through me to embrace others with that same grace!  Let me never forget what great salvation has been given to me simply for the sake of Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

Matthew 14:13b-21 (Phillips)Then the crowds heard of His departure and followed Him out of the towns on foot. When Jesus emerged from His retreat He saw a vast crowd and was very deeply moved and cured the sick among them. As evening fell His disciples came to Him and said, “We are right in the wilds here and it is very late. Send away these crowds now, so that they can go into the villages and buy themselves food.” ¹⁶ “There’s no need for them to go away,” returned Jesus. “You give them something to eat!”  ¹⁷ “But we haven’t anything here,” they told Him, “except five loaves and two fish.”  ¹⁸ To which Jesus replied, “Bring them here to me.”

^19-21 He told the crowd to sit down on the grass. Then He took the five loaves and the two fish in His hands, and, looking up to Heaven, He thanked God, broke the loaves and passed them to His disciples who handed them to the crowd. Everybody ate and was satisfied. Afterwards they collected twelve baskets full of the pieces which were left over. Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, apart from the women and children.

Observation

I’ve taught this story and its companions many times over my years in Children’s Ministry.  It is a very straightforward story of feeding a crowd with one loaf and 2/5ths of a fish per 1000 (not counting the women and children).  I have often wondered when the multiplication happened.  It could not have been when Jesus took them because He would have been buried under a great mound of bread and fish.  If it happened when Jesus handed them to the disciples, each disciple would have needed to carry enough bread and fish to feed at least 400 people.  I can imagine what the disciples were thinking as they approached their assigned part of the crowd with the little they had in their baskets.  In my opinion, that took a lot of faith!

So, the multiplication must have happened when they put their hand into the basket to walk among the crowd handing out the food.  Face it, in the beginning there was not enough to feed the crowd, but God made it stretch to fit the need.  Jesus sent His disciples out to grow their faith in God’s provision rather than relying on what they had to offer on their own.

Impact on Me

I remember this story whenever I feel inadequate to the need or my assigned task.  I am reminded that God is not relying on what I have but rather on what I will believe Him to do in and through me.  He certainly gives us all gifts and talents that He wants us to use to serve Him, and we should do that to the fullest extent.  However, when I get to the place where I think my strength, ability or talent carries the day alone, I am dangerously close to reaching in my basket to find it empty before the need is met.

I am deploying next week with a group of chaplains for hurricane relief.  The devastation extends beyond the physical.  It is emotionally draining for both those I will serve and me.  I am confident that the inadequacy I feel to meet the need must be like those disciples wading out into that huge crowd with only seven loaves and five fish.  I am trusting Jesus to work a miracle in the basket of comfort, care and hope that He is handing me to help meet the need of those He will bring my way. 

Prayer

Lord God, Redeemer, Miracle Worker, Way Maker, remind me of this story whenever I am tempted to say, “No, I can’t,” when I know that it is You asking.  I want my faith in You and Your provision to be stronger than my fear of failure.  May I embrace Your teaching and learn Your lessons well so that I may faithfully be what You’ve called me to be and do what You have called me to do.  I ask it all in the name of Jesus.  Make it so.

1 Peter 5:1-4 (Phillips) Now may I who am myself an elder say a word to you my fellow-elders? I speak as one who actually saw Christ suffer, and as one who will share with you the glories that are to be unfolded to us. I urge you then to see that your “flock of God” is properly fed and cared for. Accept the responsibility of looking after them willingly and not because you feel you can’t get out of it, doing your work not for what you can make, but because you are really concerned for their well-being. You should aim not at being “little tin gods” but as examples of Christian living in the eyes of the flock committed to receive that crown of glory which cannot fade.

Observation

About 15 years ago, I was the ministry leader for a team at my church that encouraged and supported ministries led by members of the congregation.  With some minor updates to make it more relevant to all, I wanted to share with you something I shared with my team.  So, this is written to a group that already has accepted Jesus as Savior and committed to serve Him.  If you have not yet accepted Jesus as your Savior, I encourage you to read the New Testament and learn who Jesus was and is and always will be.  Wherever you are and whatever your circumstance, Jesus has love, grace and forgiveness ready for you.  Call on His name and He will answer you.

1. God is committed to relationship-building. He wants everyone to have a relationship with Christ and with others in Christ.  Therefore, He has a plan for creating an environment for life that will father, foster, and fertilize spiritual growth and friendships with others – Christian and non-Christian.  God wants us to allow Jesus to shine through what we love to do and whatever else He asks us to do in Jesus’ name.  Our Father’s goal is to have others experience Christ in us so that they will choose to become part of the family of Christ where they can have the same peace, love and security that we have.
2. God wants every Believer to GO be His ambassador, evangelist, missionary in and to the world and culture in which they live. Some are called to go to places that are strange and unfamiliar to them, but, regardless, we all are called to carry the Gospel in our daily going and being.  Therefore, God is for us as we create opportunity and support for this to happen.  A question I ask myself is:  Am I making GOING a priority in my everyday life?  How am I encouraging and inspiring others to answer this call?  How am I equipping those who have a heart to go but feel ill-equipped?  How are they responding?
3. We operate from a position of advantage. We serve the Almighty God, Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He is never surprised by the latest moves of the enemy.  He is never unprepared or taken aback by what happens.  God made His plan before Creation and has no Plan B.  Additionally, He feels no pressure or compunction to react or act according to any plan or timetable other than His own.  He is never concerned about what people will think about an individual battle that seems to us to be lost.  He will partner with us to accomplish His plan and fulfill His will and purpose (which to me is like working with a child learning to bake which takes 3 times as long and creates triple the mess).  BUT God will not necessarily bless any short-sighted plan we come up with on our own.  He has already won the war and will lead us into that victory if we will just follow in His footsteps.  It is worthwhile to invest whatever time it takes to hear from Him and be wise enough to embrace His our part in His plan for us.
4. We have been given superior weapons. The weapons He gives us are not the weapons the world sees as powerful but are the ones which exercise overwhelming spiritual power and authority.  These are weapons against which the enemy has no defense – love, grace, forgiveness, mercy, self-sacrifice, humility, the fruit of the Spirit and other virtues.                When I truly forgive, there is no foothold for bitterness.  I love Micah 6:8: Do justly, walk humbly, love mercy.  This is armor against the arrows of the enemy of our souls.  The enemy gains no victory if and when we respond according to the Word of God rather than react according to our flesh. While we are not to be ignorant of the enemy’s devices, we should be careful to learn how to use the weapons God has given.
5. God is not performance-based. We live in a culture that defines our worth by our achievements, our status, our possessions gained.  Heavenly culture puts no worth on these.  Will we be judged one day by Jesus for the works we performed in His name?  Absolutely!  James 2:18-24 tells us that our faith is dead without the good works it should produce.  However, showing up at the Heavenly Gates with the many lists of the good things we did in our own strength without consulting Him will not impress Him.  We will enter in simply because we are in Christ.  To hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” will depend on how well we listened and obeyed in whatever He asked us to do by faith.  If we can trust God enough to pray and wait to hear His plan, truly setting aside the urgency creating by our timetable and the need to appear pleasing or productive in the eyes of men, we will find that our joy will be full because we have endured to give Him joy in His heart.

Prayer

Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, You are so gracious, so patient, so kind to include me in fulfilling the plan You set in motion before Creation.  What a mess I can make by anxiously going off in my own direction to fix the world around me.    My intentions are good, but my actions are foolish unless they are what You have asked me to do.  Slow me down, fill me with Your peace, let me see with Your eyes so I will have faith enough to wait for Your directions.    I want to be that good and faithful servant.  Make it so, in Jesus’ name.