I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Philippians 4:13

How should we use this verse?

Is this a superman verse?

You hear it all the time.  It’s quoted when under pressure or when trying to get the courage to ask a girl out on a date maybe.  When speaking to a group of people or applying for a new job.

 

Former football star Tim Tebow had the superman verse reference right under his eyes.  The verse is Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  So if you have two athletes competing against each other and both claim this verse doesn’t one have to lose? Does that mean the verse is not always true? Maybe the verse is misused or can this verse really mean you can do ALL things. How about running the mini-marathon without training.  I mean what does the meaning of “all things” really mean?

While I do believe Christ does give us power,  this verse has been used way outside its original purpose. In fact, the original use of this verse was not to do fantastic feats never before seen by man.  It was used at the end of a discussion about living life in such a way to be happy and content whatever the situation.  Being content may be a challenge in today’s hyper-emotional, fearful, hurting and socially confused society.

A closer look

To understand the meaning of this verse we need to start at the beginning of Paul’s statement. He is talking to the church about how to live a calm life when all around there are temptations to your emotions and faith.  Paul gives us three specific rules to follow which will enable us to endure and manage anything in life without losing our sanity and do something we will regret later.

In Philippians 4:4-13  click here to read verses

We are to rejoice in Lord always. This is number one.  In any situation no matter the tragedy there is always something to rejoice in the Lord about.  By making the choice of finding something to rejoice even in dark times we are protecting ourselves from the dark places our mind and heart would go.  In everything, you can find something to thank God for and rejoice.  Second, go to God in prayer about your situation.  Tell Him all the bad, the good, the ugly, and the dreams.  Verse six tells us not to bottle up our stress in worry but rather express our fears and hopes to God.  Just telling God our issues brings peace to the heart.  And finally in verse eight Paul says we need to choose what we allow our minds to think about.  The verse says “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

In tough times  “Praise, Pray, Ponder”

Paul is telling this church if you practice these three things, “Praise, Pray, Ponder” you will enjoy a life of contentment rather than stress and worry.   This takes practice.  You have to learn to apply these rules.  They are not natural to our emotions.  It is a learned behavior.  But if applied through intentional efforts you will be able to handle situations you find yourself in and be more at peace.

Paul ends up this instruction with the more correct version of the super verse.  In the NIV Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all THIS through him (Christ) who gives me strength.”  The word THIS refers to the three steps mentioned in verses 4-12.  

You can do all these things through Christ who strengthens you!

I don’t know what you are facing this week.  But I know this truth can be applied to you if you practice the three steps of Praise (find something to thank God for in the situation), Pray (tell God all about it), and Ponder (control what your mind dwells on).  Practice these three steps and you will able to endure and enjoy life.  With Christ’s power and a determination to practice these steps and you will become a superstar.  Live life in peace and contentment and you will live with LIGHT-N-SIDE.

I need coffee.

Every morning.  Dark and black.  Several cups…then I start my day.

Our bodies crave what we have taught to be important.

Our bodies crave nourishment,  caffeine, maybe sugar.  Whatever we have placed in our bodies over time we “teach” our bodies to crave it.  Some foods and drinks we crave may not be the best for healthy growth.  But we crave it anyway.  After it is eaten we feel like it was a bad choice but we were unable to resist the cravings.

Changing what you crave is WAR

If we are convinced to become healthier, we must confront the cravings about this new goal.  It is WAR.  Ever been on a diet?  Maybe you are one of those who can eat anything without gaining weight. ( I am repenting of jealousy right now. )

Changing a craving is war!  Our bodies want what it wants.  It is not a fair fight.  The cravings are like a huge elephant and our desire to change it is like us riding the huge elephant trying to guide it. It takes time and patience to train the cravings (elephant) to accept something new.

What does your soul crave? 

In reality, your soul hungers for hope and peace.  However, for many we have taught our souls we can find hope and peace through sugary and exciting substitutes through entertainment, emails, texts, news, social media, other people’s lives.  This covers for a while the real carving of our souls for “heaven’s manna”, food from God’s word and His presence.  

Craving God’s Word and Talking to Christ.

I need coffee in the morning.  I also need God’s word and prayer time.  I crave both.  Coffee stimulates my body,  God’s Word and prayer stimulates my spirit and His word challenges me and glorifies Christ.

If you want more of God in your life and Holy Spirit direction you may need to deal with your cravings.  It will be a battle to change the direction of your craving.  It will take time and focused effort. But it will become a great craving as you experience Truth and Fellowship with Christ.  There are many tools to help.  I use YouVersion and a prayer guide.

Don’t let your soul live on sugary input.

Decide to teach your soul to crave the truth and power of God’s Word.  Let it work on your heart and life.  Allow time with Christ to give you strength, comfort, and direction as you feel the presence of God with you.  Consider the following verses:

Psalms  5:3  In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

 

Psalms 42:1  As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.

Psalms 119:105  Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

 

What are your cravings?  Turn them toward God and your lightnside will glow brightly as you feed your craving for God.

…for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  Philippians  4:11  (NIV)

*Normally I would write from my own heart.  This devotion was shared by our Teen Challenge President Gary Blackard from a YouDevotion.

Contentment is not Natural

These words show us that contentment is not a natural propensity of man. “Ill weeds grow quickly.” Covetousness, discontent, and murmuring are as natural to man—as weeds are to the soil. We need not sow thistles and weeds; they come up naturally enough because they are indigenous to earth. Just so, we need not teach men to complain; they complain fast enough without any education.

“Precious things must be Cultivated”

    But the precious things of the earth must be cultivated. If we would have wheat, we must plow and sow; if we want flowers, there must be a garden and all the gardener’s care. Now, contentment is one of the flowers of heaven, and if we would have it, it must be cultivated, as it will not grow in us by nature. It is the new nature alone which can produce contentment, and even then we must be especially careful and watchful, that we maintain and cultivate the grace which God has sown in us.

    Paul says, “I have learned… to be content,” as much as to say, that he did not know how at one time. It cost him some pains to attain the mastery of that great truth. No doubt he sometimes thought he had learned, and then broke down. And when at last he had attained unto it, and could say, “I have learned in whatever state I am, therewith to be content,” he was an old, grey-headed man, upon the borders of the grave—a poor prisoner shut up in Nero’s dungeon at Rome.

Hush the murmur – acquire the grace of Contentment.

    We might well be willing to endure Paul’s infirmities and share the cold dungeon with him—if we too might by any means attain unto his high degree of contentment. Do not indulge the notion that you learn without discipline. It is not a power that may be exercised naturally but a grace to be acquired gradually. We know this from experience. Brother, hush that murmur, natural though it is, and continue a diligent pupil in the College of Contentment.

 

Contentment in a trial is a grace that makes your lightnside bright.

 

Exodus 29:37b Then the altar will be most holy, and whatever touches it will be holy.

 

 

Where are the altars? 

 

In today’s world, many churches have no altars.  I am afraid we are losing something very important in the scriptures.  The relationship of God, the alter and us bringing ourselves to the place where God works in our lives and heart to make us holy.

 

MOST HOLY

 

In Exodus 29:36-37 God instructs the priest to consecrate the altar by placing the blood of bulls over it as a sin offering for seven days.  God said the altar will become MOST HOLY.

Holiness is God’s work.  Only He can make something holy.  We can never become holy by our own actions.  The source of Holiness is with God. “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty”  Isaiah 6:1-3,  Revelations 4:8.  It was God who made the altar MOST HOLY after the priest obeyed his commands for its construction and consecration.

 

“Whatever touches it will become HOLY.”

 

The altar is made ready and MOST HOLY. The altar is so holy that whatever touches it, no matter how sinful the offering represents,  no matter how long the sin,  no matter how often the failure, the sacrifice becomes HOLY if placed on the altar. It is made HOLY by God’s work and not our own.

 

Walking to an altar

 

The act of us walking to an altar is to acknowledge we need something in our lives that only God can fix.  We need to lay something on an altar that is broken and dirty and allow God to make us HOLY again.  In Matthew 23:19  Jesus is talking to the church leaders and He makes a statement about the altar. “For which is more important—the gift (sacrifice) on the altar or the altar that makes the gift (sacrifice) sacred?

 

It is the act of acknowledging our need for God’s Holiness and our recognition of our sin and brokenness.  The miracle is this…what ever touches the alter becomes HOLY.  That part of us that we know is broken and messy becomes HOLY as we come to the altar of repentance and honesty before God and place our life on His altar.

I remember a time when I knew I needed to repent of jealousy about another pastor’s situation.  I was at a revival and the preacher said if you have sin in your life come down to the altar.  Pride kept me at my seat for a while but as I began to walk to the altar I felt a growing realization,  I was going to meet God and my sinful feelings would be covered by God’s Holiness as I lay my sacrifice (confession and repentance) on the alter.  I stood up from the altar Holy and free.

You can make an altar anywhere but I would hope to see more alter times in churches.  After worship and preaching the hearts of many are ready to meet with God but suddenly,  the service is dismissed.  We need more altars!

The cross became the MOST HOLY ALTAR ever and always.

Jesus died on the cross and that cross became the MOST, MOST HOLY altar.  Take your broken sacrifice to the cross and lay it down.  God will meet you there and His Holiness will be invested into your heart.

There is an altar right beside you

Right now.  There is an altar right beside you.  Place your brokenness and failures on that altar.  Confess your sins and need of Christ’s blood to cleanse your heart.  As you place your sacrifice of confession and honesty on the spiritual altar “whatever touches this altar will be made HOLY. ” In Colossians 1:20-22 “having made peace through the blood of His Cross. And you who were once alienated and enemies through your mind by wicked works He has now reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

Let God’s holiness brighten your lightnside.

Jesus begins to bring hope to a lost world in Matthew 5.  It is said you can give a fish to a man and feed him for a day or you can teach him to fish and feed him for a lifetime.

Heal then Teach

Jesus did not come to earth just to heal the effects of sin on mankind’s body. We see him before Matthew 5 surrounded by large crowds of people who are broken physically, mentally and spiritually.  Jesus reached out and healed them all.  Then Jesus began to teach as He spoke words of life to the crowd.  He began to teach kingdom truth that would equip men to become mighty in their own spirits through Christ to overcome the chains of sin and destruction in their families.

Jesus spoke words filled with His Spirit.

Jesus began to speak with the same voice that created the universe.  Out of Christ’s heart and through His mouth holy words of truth poured forth.  The spirit of Christ spoke to those who heard him that day and their spirits began to awaken in the presence of the creator.

Jesus began to describe the process of one’s spirit as he begins to journey from the chains of sin and selfishness to one who becomes one with Christ as an overcomer of sin.  That day Jesus transitioned from healing a man to teaching him truths that would bring continued healing and health in his spirit.

Be-attitudes not Do-attitudes 

The first teachings of Christ are called the beatitudes.  It is the BE-attitudes and not the DO-attitudes.  Christ is sharing the truth that will mold us to BECOME rather than a TO-DO list.  Truths in Christ change us from glory to glory.  2 Cor. 3:18

Let us become mighty in Christ by hearing and receiving truth.  Not one who is always looking for God to heal them but rather to BECOME Christ-like with healing truths inside.  It is not easy but it is very much worth the effort.  Follow along as our spirits come alive and we BECOME Christ-like by learning Christ’s BE-ATTITUDES.

May God awaken hope in you today to receive truth from His word.  May it become Light-n-side.

Exodus 14:13 “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.

FEEL TRAPPED?

The Israelites found themselves between the Red Sea and the Pharaoh’s army.  This happened just after God’s Power forced Egypt to set the Israelites free marching away from bondage.  It looked like everything was going well.  They had the wealth of Egypt and were marching to the promised land.   But suddenly they found themselves trapped.

Panic leads to blame

Usually, the first reaction is Panic.  With panic comes blame and accusations.  “We were better off before we left Egypt.”  But Moses had witnessed enough of the power of God that he was confident of God’s power.  Isn’t it interesting when God first called on Moses at the burning bush,  Moses panicked at God’s plan for him?  It was not until Moses experienced God’s power that he grew confident in God during difficult times.  Now, Moses stands between an enemy army and a body of water.  Trapped…maybe not.  He remembered how God used him to confront the most powerful leader in the world and won.

Moses chose POWER  over PANIC

Moses chose power over panic, faith over fear.  Moses chose trusting God instead of turning back, looking up to God rather than looking at the problem.

Peter asked Jesus to let him walk on the water.  Jesus said sure.  And for a moment, Peter walked on the water.  But then Peter saw the waves and he chose panic over power.  (I’m not sure I would be any stronger than Peter.)

Interesting timing

It’s interesting that I came across this scripture in my devotions today.  I did not sleep much last night.  My mind was going over issues and problems.  I know God is on the throne.  I was not panicking but was unsure of the decisions.  This scripture helps me to have faith in the Father and not fear of the unknown.

Are you trapped between problems?

Maybe you are facing some situations.  You feel like God has helped you to get where you are today but suddenly you find yourself between two seemingly difficult situations.  You see the enemy on one side and a barrier of the other.  Choose God’s  POWER over your  PANIC.  Allow God to show His power as you place your trust in Him.  Be patient and have faith.

God defeated Israel’s greatest enemy that day.  They would face other obstacles and so will you.  Israel chose PANIC at Jericho and paid a deep price, forty years in the desert.  God eventually led them back to Jericho and this time they chose POWER and overcame the enemy.   Choose POWER and not panic to shine bright your ligntnside.

 

Genesis 4:6-7

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? …

it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Is it wrong to be angry? 

No.  Ephesians 4:26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 

God’s warning to Cain in Genesis 4:6-7 was to think about why you are angry and to be aware that anger can turn into sin and develop rage, hatred, murder. 

healthy vs unhealthy anger

 

What is the difference between healthy and unhealthy anger?  The answer is ‘who is in control‘.  When people let anger control them,  it becomes unhealthy anger.  Unhealthy anger can block one’s love and even overcome one’s ability to think clearly. Unhealthy anger can develop into years and rage, revenge, and bitterness. 

Healthy anger is when we allow the Holy Spirit to help us focus our anger on righting wrongs, or confronting evil.  Or we can even be angry at ourselves for our failures, using anger to motivate and energize our efforts and our dependence on God.

Martin Luther said “When I am angry, I can write, pray, and preach well for my whole temperament is quickened and my understanding is sharpened.”  For myself, anger against the devil does help me focus on the real enemy and off of people and their actions. Our enemy is not people, our enemy is satan.  Ephesians 6:10-12 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Bad anger can come from blaming someone else for our bad decisions.  Cain’s anger raged at Able because his sacrifice was accepted.  But the real problem was Cain’s disobedience in his own sacrifice. 

People don’t “lose” their temper, they “choose” it.  

How can we work through anger?  (from Gary Oliver )

1. Be aware of anger.  Be aware of what triggers anger in you and how your body responds.
2. Accept responsibility for anger.  Adam blamed Eve & God, Eve blamed the serpent, Cain blamed Able.  “So and so made me angry.” In reality, we choose our anger.  It’s a choice. Take responsibility for the emotion.
3. Identify the source of anger.  Anger is a secondary emotion that is in response to a primary experience like hurt, frustration, or fear.  Anger can also be a defense mechanism to keep others away.
4. Choose how to invest our anger energy.   This is the most critical step.  We cannot always control when we experience anger, but we can choose how to express it.  With God’s help and being honest with ourselves and others we can channel anger away from sin and into healing, forgiveness, and prayer against the real enemy of our souls.

Psalms 19:12-14

But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.

Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.

Then I will be blameless,  innocent of great transgression.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart   be pleasing in your sight,

    Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

 

Remember,  you don’t lose your temper, you choose it.  Allow God and the power of His scriptures keep your emotional lightnside shining bright and healthy.

Deut 10:12 … what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul

 

Paradox – Fear and Love

 

Fear is a primitive emotion.  At its root, we want to run or fight.  Our body reacts to fear to energize our body for a defense to fight or run away.  However, we are told to be a healthy Christian, we are to fear God.  While we cannot run away from God and we will one day stand before Him there is a reason we should have fear.  Some would say the word fear in the Old Testament is today interpret respect, awe.  Proverb 1:7 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”  Not respect or awe, but fear.  We will all stand before God in judgment.  Many will enter heaven but many will also be cast into an eternal hell by God. We need to fear, respect, awe, obey Him.

Love is also a primitive emotion.  It is the opposite of fear.  We run to and want to be with someone we love.   God is love and has provided His only Son that came as a child to die for us.  God provided a way to cleanse our hearts from bondage and pain of sin and to share  His peace.  We have a reason to love God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit as their blessing helps us each day.

 

Jesus said…

Matthew 22:37  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

Luke 12:4-5  “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

 

So how do FEAR and LOVE work together?

 

As a child, if we did not have fear of punishment or the authority of the parents we would never learn to be obedient.  If we never learned to love them we would be so self-centered we would never learn to serve and help others.  It is the balance of love and fear that produces a well balanced and mature person.  A healthy family has the paradox of Fear and Love to develop healthy productive caring children.  I am not talking about abuse, but a fear that brings respect and obedience.

In my devotions this week I came across a Psalm that reflects both primitive emotions.

 

Psalms 103    (Fear and Love)

(Love in green,  Fear in red)

 

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. 

2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

4 who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

5 who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. 

6 The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

12 as far as the east is from the west,  so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;  

14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

15 The life of mortals is like grass,  they flourish like a flower of the field;

16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—

18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

21 Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.

22 Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

Do you have a healthy fear and respect toward God?  Do you love God? Get into God’s word and a good church to learn who you should fear and obey,  but also who you should love and serve.  You will be most happy.

 

Let FEAR and LOVE toward God  make your lightnside glow bright

A promise from the Bible  Psalms 1:3

“…what ever they do prospers.”

2020 ??

No one knows what is going to happen in 2020.  There were probably some surprises in 2019 that you were not prepared for.  It will be the same in 2020.  It could be the best year of your life or you may face a challenge in your family, health or finances.  So how does the Bible promise a life that prospers? You were created in God’s image with a mind and a spirit. What comes through our minds also enters into our spirit.  It could be anger, lust or hope and faith.  Your spirit helps you develop your desires and reactions to life.

A NEW DIET FOR YOUR HEART

Try a new spiritual diet.  A daily reading plan in the Bible. Choosing to take in Godly Truth and meditate on it during the day you will begin to affect a change in your thinking and in your spirit.   The supernatural power of God’s word will create HOPE and FAITH in your mind and heart.  All the blessings of God, the power of Christ’s sacrifice and the leading of the Holy Spirit become active in your life through Hope and Faith.  You will have a  closer relationship with God and Christ Jesus. As you continue daily, your reactions and choices in life will begin to prosper.  I’m not talking financially (however, following God’s principle of giving and receiving you will release blessings and better decisions in your finances).  You will also experience more peace and love, better relationships at home and work, protection from the costs of evil temptations. In other words…Your life will prosper.

Psalms 1:1-3 

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,  and who meditates on his law day and night.  – (the result) That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—  whatever they do prospers.

 

YouVersion.com

Start 2020 with a new daily mental and spiritual diet. God’s word each day.  I use a YouVersion daily reading plan on my phone.  There are many types of plans available on almost any device.  Daily meditating on God’s Word will bring health and hope to your mind, heart, and soul.  Your reactions to whatever comes your way in 2020 will prosper because of it.

Be Patient

Be patient, we live in a generation that believes everything should be easy or immediate.  This new spiritual diet takes time and effort and soon you will be hungry for it each day. As 2021 comes close, you will be able to look back on the year and see the effect God’s Word had in your life.  Let your lightnside prosper and burn bright in 2020.

A few more scriptures for today.

Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! [4] Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

 

Matthew 7:24-25 NLT

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. [25] Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.

Psalm 119:89-91 NLT

Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven. [90] Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. [91] Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans.

Psalms 5:11-12

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.  For You , O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  2 Cor. 3:18

 

Wow! Tomorrow is 2020.  I remember as a young teenager in the 1970’s thinking about the future and the promises of a futuristic world.  Flying cars, Jetsons-style living (we do have a robot vacuum).  But not a lot has changed in our own lives.  We deal with the highs and lows experienced during 2019.

Reflection vs Refraction

As we look back on our failures and pains of 2019 I want us to consider the difference between reflecting and refracting those thoughts.  Reflection is when all the light is reflected back from a surface into your eyes.  You see yourself clearly.  In reflecting on the pain issues of 2019 we can allow these thoughts to define and harden our failures.  We can continue to believe there is no hope for improvement.  Refraction is when light passes through a surface or is directed away from your eyes.  The full image is not reflected back to us but passes through the surface or is reflected away.

GOD is our REFRACTION.

He takes our failures and pains and lovingly, works in our hearts to help us grow past the pain of another failure into repentance, acceptance of forgiveness.  The Holy Spirit walks with us and daily helps us move past the fallen traits and uses the experience to build endurance and faith in Christ.

 

Philippians 3:13-14

13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 

From “My Upmost for His Hightest”

Security from Yesterday. “God requireth that which is past.” At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities that will never return but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Abrams calls on God after a failure

I read in my devotions this morning about Abram taking his wife to Egypt because of the famine.  Sarai was very beautiful and Abram thought he would be killed if they knew they were married. So he lied.  Sarai was taken by the Pharaoh. But God intervened and saved Sarai. Abram was exposed by Pharaoh for his lie.  They left Egypt and camped in Bethel.  With that failure fresh in his memory Abram sacrificed to God and called on His name.  Instead of reflecting this failure he called upon God and that sinful failure was a refraction and not a reflection on Abrams future.

Meditate on these scriptures:

 

Lamentations 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Psalms 51:10-12  Create in me a pure heart, O God,     and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Titus 3:5-7  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Get ready to shine your lightnside for 2020!

Don’t get stuck reflecting on your past failures and problems.  Allow God’s word, His grace, Christ’s Blood, and the Holy Spirits’ power be a refraction to those failures and use them to strengthen your walk with Christ in 2020.