Psalm 27 Dealing with Anxiety

By Jon Bloom, Desiring God

The normal Christian life is embattled. It’s full of strange and difficult conflicts with sin and weakness within , and strange and difficult conflicts with spiritual and human adversaries and a world subjected to futility and frail brokenness without .

These experiences typically feel anything but normal. Battles with our sin, our frailty, other people, demons, and a broken world infected with evil can, at times, feel surreal, making us feel desperate. They trigger emotions connected to our particular fears, past hurts, sinful pride, griefs, and hopes that are distracting and sometimes debilitating.

That means a crucial and significant part of the normal Christian life is learning the humble discipline of casting our anxieties on God, who deeply cares for us. Even, or especially, in the heat of battle and the fury of the storm, so that “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” ( 1 Peter 5:6–7 ; Philippians 4:6–7 ).

The Bible is a field manual for the normal, embattled, desperate Christian life. God has mercifully packed it not only with examples and teaching, but also with songs and prayers for our trials. And we need songs and prayers to provide us words for the chaos, when anxiety and confusion fragment our thoughts.

Psalm 27 is that kind of song. David states his confidence in God, but he also confesses his anxiety and bewilderment and desperation. It’s a song for the normal Christian life.

Your Source of Hope

David begins with the source of his hope:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ( Psalm 27:1 )

By “light,” David means the same thing written in Psalm 119:130 : “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.” By “salvation,” David means God is his hope to rescue him from his greatest dangers ( Psalm 34:6 ).

This is our song too. For God must be our hope, our light in a dark world, and our salvation from the most fearsome things .

Your Source of Courage

Next, David declares the source of his courage:
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. ( Psalm 27:3 )

David was under frequent threat from treacherous countrymen ( Psalm 27:2 ), and from enemy nations. We too are under spiritual attack ( Ephesians 6:12 ). And these attacks can be fierce — spiritual forces of wickedness are out to destroy us ( 1 Peter 5:8 ).

But if God is our hope, then these “adversaries and foes [will] stumble and fall” ( Psalm 27:2 ). Singing or praying this truth when fear rises reminds us of why we have good reason to be encouraged and provides us words to quiet our fear and squash the intimidation.

Your Source of Delight

Then David describes the source of his delight:

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. ( Psalm 27:4 )

David’s deepest desire — his one thing — is not for safety, military dominance, or prosperity. David wants God — to be near God, to see and be satisfied with God’s glory, and to live by God’s wisdom and guidance.

In the embattled, desperate moments of the normal Christian life, when our felt needs can be focused on being delivered from particular troubles, it is helpful to have words ready to remind us of the only ultimately necessary thing we need ( Luke 10:42 ).

Your Source of Help

After David declares his confident hope and deepest delight in God, then he shifts the tone of the psalm to reflect the desperate moment he’s experiencing:

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! ( Psalm 27:7 )

“It is helpful to have words ready to remind us of the only ultimately necessary thing we need.”

Even though God is his source of hope, courage, and delight, at that moment, David is feeling some fear-induced perception that God doesn’t want to answer him, perhaps is even angry at him ( Psalm 27:9–10 ). His needs feel very urgent and he’s pleading with God for help and comfort.

This is exactly how we feel in embattled, desperate moments. Our emotions are not in sync with our beliefs about God, and it’s okay to tell him. David’s words give us a prayer to One who understands exactly what we’re experiencing and invites us to come to him for help ( Hebrews 4:15–16 ).

Your Source of Understanding

David’s confusion and desperation make him aware of his ignorance, and so he then turns to God as the source of understanding:

Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. ( Psalm 27:11 )

David didn’t know the plots of his enemies, which made him feel vulnerable. But he knew that God knew. And he knew that if he walked in the obedience of faith with God, it would be the safest place.

We don’t need to understand all the complexities of our trials. Neither do we necessarily need to deep dive into our psychological labyrinths to figure out all our fears (though in certain cases this is necessary). What we need to know most is God’s way, and then we must follow it.

Your Source of Certainty

Lastly, David applies his strong confidence to his weak desperation in a firm exhortation to his soul:

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! ( Psalm 27:13-14 )

David is declaring the source of his certainty while living in an uncertain world. And it is a beautiful, strengthening way to end his psalm.

This is also a healthy climax to the song of the normal Christian life. Regardless of the way things appear or feel, we will know the goodness of God in the land of the eternal living! We do not need to panic; we need to be strong. And we need to tell ourselves: Soul, don’t cow to intimidation, don’t wallow in hopelessness, and don’t cave in to fear. Wait for the Lord and let your heart take courage.

Fourteen Verses to Memorize

“Your normal Christian life doesn’t always feel normal, but the Bible teaches us that this is, in fact, normal.”

Your normal Christian life doesn’t always feel normal. It is frequently hard, embattled, and desperate. But the Bible teaches us that this is, in fact, normal. And the Bible not only teaches us about these trials, but also equips us with songs and prayers to help us keep our heads and find our bearings.

Psalm 27 is one of God’s precious equipping gifts to us. And, at only 14 verses, it’s worth memorizing, because, in the heat of the fight for faith, it can be brought out quickly as both a “sword of the Spirit” and as a shield from “the flaming darts of the evil one” ( Ephesians 6:16–17 ).

Let it be a short song for your normal Christian life.

Teach your kids to love God.

Author Jay Younts, Shepherds Press

Whether you read Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Matthew or Colossians, the first thing that God requires is that he is to be loved. Too often, when it comes to raising children, loving God is tacked on as an after-thought to obedience. The thought process may run like this:

“I can’t force my children to love God, so I will teach them to obey, because I can require that.”

Requiring obedience from your children appears to be a more doable task than requiring them to love God. After all, reaching the heart of your child is way beyond your capacity. Of course, it is beyond your ability, but it is not beyond God’s!

Without loving God, obedience will only produce self-righteousness. Think of the people of whom God required love as a condition of obedience:

The children of Israel were a hard-hearted, complaining bunch. But Moses tells them that their first responsibility is to love God with all their hearts (Deuteronomy 10:12-13;  6:4-7). Isaiah 29:13 reinforces this by teaching that rote obedience is actually turning from God.

To the cynical, hypocritical hearts of the Pharisees, Jesus says the greatest commandment is the love of God (Matthew 22:37-40).

To the pagan, cosmopolitan people of Colossae and Corinth Paul says to begin with love (Colossians 3:14 & I Corinthians 13).

Your children’s hearts are no more difficult to reach than the hearts of these folks.  The message is the same today. The love of God must come first. This doesn’t mean that this truth will be immediately embraced by your children. But it does mean that you cannot leave out requiring the love of God in your parenting (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).  Otherwise, your parental direction will be just an empty form of work-righteousness or manipulation.

What does this look like in practice? Here are some examples.

Instead of saying: “The Bible says that you must obey mommy right away.”

Use language like this: “Obeying right away is how you can show your love for God. Remember, that God says that loving him is the most important thing.”

Suppose your child responds something like this: “I don’t feel like loving God right now. I want to keep playing.”

First of all be thankful for the honest response. Next, call your child to love God even when he doesn’t feel like it. By serving himself instead of loving God through obedience to you he is making himself the center of his universe. Because you love God and your child you cannot allow that to happen. So, even as you pursue discipline, the love of God most be uppermost in your mind!

I realize that this approach can be time-consuming. However, this is about much more than a change in behavior. You are in a battle for the heart of your child. There is no more important issue for you to be involved with as a parent.

Living out the gospel with your children on a daily basis must be your focus as a parent. In addition to whatever discipline is called for, the important thing is to address the importance of loving God. This means that loving God first must be your primary motivation as a parent. It is not an optional add on.

Obey first or love God first? How you answer this question will shape the course of your parenting!

Who Defines Your Joy?

by James Coffield  Dr. James Coffield serves as an associate professor of counseling and the clinical director of the master’s degree program in counseling at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla.

It often seems as if God narrates the story of our lives with irony. Joy is often fleeting, and real joy is paradoxically birthed in the most challenging of times. As I am writing on this topic of joy, I have been dealing with significant sorrow. A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at the funeral of a young friend. Is the buoyancy of joy possible when swimming in a sea of sorrow? Is real joy possible in a sin-stained, fallen world? As distant as it might seem at times, we know that joy is possible because Jesus prayed for us to have joy. Joy is included as one of the fruits of the Spirit. As I stood before hundreds of grieving friends and a young family left without a father, I asked God for His presence. The sense of aloneness was palpable. I asked the Creator to give me His perspective. The look of confusion was in the eyes of the congregation. I wanted to stand for His glorious purpose of declaring the truth, hope, and even joy of the gospel. God answered my prayer. Don’t misunderstand—it was a sad and sorrowful day. But sorrow and joy are not opposites, and sometimes they live precariously close to one another. I felt God’s presence. For a fleeting moment, I thought that I had a glimpse of His perspective, and I felt that I was given words of truth during a critical time. I experienced joy.

Joy flows from a particular way that one engages life. Joy is the product of praying for and entering into His presence, seeking His ultimate purpose, and stumbling toward His perspective.

I have set the Lord always before me; 
 because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
 my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
 or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
 in your presence there is fullness of joy;
 at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:8–11)

These verses are quoted by Peter in his sermon in Acts 2. He tells us that this psalm refers to Christ and to His resurrection. We are invited to enter into His joy and His suffering, and these Scriptures present us with some instructions to do just that. First, notice that he speaks of the Lord’s presence: “I have set the Lord always before me” and “in your presence there is fullness of joy.” God’s great promise in the gospel is not the absence of struggle or an easy life path, but that He will be with us: “I will be with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). We experience joy when we are aware of and focused upon His presence. Joy is not the elimination of sorrow but the presence of God in sorrow. Diligently pray that you will be aware of His presence.

God’s great promise in the gospel is not the absence of struggle or an easy life path, but that He will be with us.

Joy also comes when you know His purpose. “You make known to me the path of life.” Humans can endure great suffering and struggle when they feel that there is a purpose. In the concentration camps of World War II, researchers noticed that the strong did not always live and the weak were not always the most likely to die. No, it was the individuals who had purpose and meaning in their lives who were the most likely to live. There is no greater purpose than God’s purpose of glory. We experience joy when we are caught up in His purpose. Diligently pray that you would be aware of His purpose.

Psalm 16 is a reference to Christ’s suffering and resurrection; it reminds us of the joy found in God’s perspective. He knows that the last chapter is not the cross of crucifixion or suffering but the joy that would be His on the other side of Calvary. Jesus “for the joy set before him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). Gaining His perspective will provide you with a new sense of gratitude for His faithfulness in your life and a keener awareness of those blessings. Fervently pray for gratitude and godly perspective. As John Calvin said, “There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” Gratitude leads to joy. God made all of creation, including us, to experience joy. Although the evil one is committed to destroying joy and glory, it is, in fact, what we were designed for. Diligently pray that you would be aware of His perspective, that you would be filled with the gratitude and joy for which God made you.

The church on the day of my friend’s funeral was full of sorrow, as it should have been. But to the extent that we sought God’s presence, trusted His purpose, and strained to see His perspective, there was joy. Echoing in the shadows of sorrow was the possibility of joy. Joy doesn’t come easily. We must fight the lies of futility, isolation, and loneliness, and we must fight the fleeting perspective that accompanies difficult circumstances. We must have the courage and the ears to hear the laughter and rich joy on the other side. For on the other side, we will fully enjoy His presence, understand His perspective, and be amazed by His purpose. We will spend eternity in joy.

Originally posted in TableTalk magazine:  https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/2018/02/who-defines-your-joy/?utm_content=bufferb41ec&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Parenting a Difficult Child

Author: JULIE LOWE, a CCEF counselor and author.

Some of the most burdensome moments for a parent are when it is clear to those around you that your child is defiant or difficult. What are other people thinking? What does this say about me as a parent? They might assume your child’s behavior is a result of inadequate parenting or something else amiss in your home. People may even be bold enough to share their views, without any sense of the shame they are heaping upon you. Those of you with a difficult child understand. You feel marked, and even judged, by your child’s personal struggles. You hang your head around people who “know” about the problem. You assume they see you as a failure. If you were a good parent, surely your children would be well-behaved, love God, and have good manners. After all, their children are not so insubordinate.

If this is how you feel, you may have bought into the belief that good parents produce good children and bad parents produce bad children. At times, this seems downright biblical. If you raise a child in the way he should go, he won’t depart from it, right? So it follows that if you were godly enough, wise enough and patient enough, your child would not be so rebellious. It seems that the right formula is: love plus discipline plus godly instruction = “good” kids. And because, at times, the formula does seem to work, you determine the error must be in your parenting.

I’ve heard many a parent say, “We’ve exhausted all options, all approaches, all forms of consequences… and nothing worked. I tried being calm; I tried consistent discipline; I tried appealing to their conscience and praying with them and for them. Nothing helped. Nothing changed.” What the parent means is that it did not produce the desired behavior change or a visible heart change. The assumption is that, once again, the formula was applied, and it proved useless.

But this is a faulty, unbiblical approach. Good kids come out of horrific family backgrounds, and rebellious, willful kids come out of good, Christian homes. Children do not come to us as blank slates, but with their own personalities, strengths, weakness, desires, and temptations towards particular sin. They are born with hearts that are wooed by their own desires, and they exercise volition to choose for themselves the type of person they will become. There is an active moral responder on the other end of your parenting—one who chooses whom they will serve. And there is no way a parent can ensure the outcome.

Of course, a parent does play a significant role in a child’s life, but don’t buy into the belief that assumes good parenting will produce well-behaved children. It incorrectly places all the ownership and blame on you. And the burden of it might tempt you to want to give up or resort to poor or ungodly parenting (anger, yelling, harshness, despair, backing down, or backing away completely) because it might appear to work in the short run.

What then are you to do? Let me suggest two things that might help.

First, evaluate your motivation. Though you are not responsible for your child’s bad choices, could it be that, without realizing it, you are adding to the problem? If you are frustrated, despairing, or angry because your child is difficult, you need to ask yourself: What standard do you judge yourself by? Whose agenda is dictating your parenting? Is it a worldly, self-centered agenda, or a Christ-centered one? You can desire good things that become driven by very bad motives. Do you care too much about your own comfort or reputation? Do you desire a well-behaved child with few problems, or struggles? Children that make you look good, that are productive, smart, and kind? Are you embittered because you have invested yourself in this child and see no results? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, consider confessing the desires that grip your heart. Ask God to give you the grace, fortitude, and wisdom to parent your challenging child. Ask him to show you how to respond to your child out of love and concern for his or her wellbeing, not your own.

Second, remind yourself of what God calls you to as a parent—no more, no less. He calls you to love your children, to model a Christ-like character and lifestyle, and to respond wisely and thoughtfully to their struggles. You are to foster a personal relationship with the living God, and, to the best of your ability, shape your child’s strengths and weaknesses in his image. Though God expects you to parent with consistent love and wisdom, he does not hold you responsible for results that are driven by the child’s sin or rebellion.

Stop “trying” to make things turn out a particular way and just do the hard work of godly parenting. Do not judge its effectiveness by your child’s response. Simply wrestle with this:

Is my parenting loving?
Is it consistent?
Is it wise?

That will be challenging enough. You will fail, be convicted, and need forgiveness on those fronts alone. The rest must be left to the work of the Spirit in a child’s life. You will find much freedom from judgement, less care for the opinions of others, more hope and less despair when you commit your parenting to the Lord. Let him do the rest. As Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not grow weary of doing good.”

Originally posted at:  https://www.ccef.org/resources/blog/parenting-difficult-child

Consequences: punishment or nourishment..

Article by Jay Younts, Shepherd's Press

What kind of correction works best with teenagers? This is a generational quandary! What is the best way to positively address the areas in their lives where they need growth and direction? The time-honored favorite method of correction is consequences! But, the issue is what kind of consequences?

If consequences nourish and build up a young person, this is a good thing and qualifies as biblical discipline. In case you are questioning where the idea of nourishment comes from, look with me at Ephesians 6:4:

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

The English words “bring them up” are a translation of the greek word which means nourish. So, nourishment is an appropriate term to associate with consequences that are honoring to God. Lasting heart change is best accomplished this way.

However, if consequences are deployed as punishment or perceived as punishment then the outcome will not be pleasant for the parent or the teenager. This is because punishment has to do with fear. In contrast true biblical discipline has to do with love. Look at I John 4:18:

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Consequences that focus on punishment and payment for wrong doing may change behavior for the short-term, but they will not yield dependence on the gospel and will not nourish relationships with parents or with God.

Biblical discipline, including consequences, must be rooted in loving nourishment and not punishment. Therefore, consequences must have a focus on building up and producing growth. I John is clear, punishment produces fear. This is because punishment is about retribution, payment for wrong doing. This will produce a response of fear and anger in your teenagers.

Biblical discipline on the other hand produces security and peace. Thus, if your correction is not directly connected to the restorative power of the gospel it will resemble punishment more than discipline.

Consequences that focus on extra chores or being restricted from favorite activities with no positive value other than payment for poor or unacceptable behavior will not benefit your teenager or draw them closer to God. See Colossians 2:20-23. These consequences will increase anger and build relational barriers between you and your teenagers.

An additional negative outcome of these types of consequences is that they may make your teenager think he or she has somehow paid for their sin by doing the consequence. This kind of trade-off is dangerous. Christ alone is the only one who can pay or make atonement for your children’s sins. Indeed, teenagers will sometimes endure these negative consequences, simply because they are willing to trade-off good times for some bad-times. This is not healthy!

Remember that Paul’s instruction in Ephesians is to not provoke children to anger but to instead nourish them with truth firmly rooted in the grace of the gospel.

So what is a consequence that would be helpful and not destructive? One approach would be spending time with your teenage son talking through the circumstances that led to the problematic behavior. This would involve loving him enough to really understand that the problem from his perspective and then talking through what a positive response would look like. There is one draw back to this approach: time! This kind of relational involvement takes time. It requires investing deeply in your teenager’s life. This is what a consequence that nourishes looks like. Your children and their relationship with God are worth every second of this investment.

Don’t invest in punishment. Nourish your teenager with the richness of the gospel.

Originally posted on Shepherd's Press blog:  https://www.shepherdpress.com/consequences-punishment-or-nourishment/

Why Humility is Doubly Important in Marriage

BY BRAD HAMBRICK 

James 4:6
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Most people who are married have turned to their spouse and said, “You don’t act this way around anyone else” or “You don’t treat anyone else this way.”  Occasionally it is meant as a compliment, but more often than not these statements are meant to infer, “I am getting a raw deal.”  There are many explanations for this phenomenon, but in this post we will examine one explanation with two faces—the absence of humility.

Face One: Refusal to Live in My Weaknesses

Have you noticed that we spend the majority of our day operating in areas of specialized training, well-practiced skills, and personal interests?  Then we come home.  When we get home we are asked to do a wide variety of tasks, many of which we have no particular passion for or interest in.  It is these tasks that we do to love and serve those we know best, while those we are least committed to get our fine tuned excellence.

The response we too often give is to draw back from, neglect, or grumble about these tasks that are not our strength.  We may call it insecurity, but it is more often a form of pride.  “If I cannot do it with excellence and receive affirmation, then I will not do it at all or with much effort,” is our logic.  “I get to operate in my strength all day long and know how to succeed in that world.  If I am not sure that I will be a success, then I will not try.”

It takes great humility and the heart of a servant to live in the area of my weakness for the love and welfare of another.  When we are willing to live in our weakness for the benefit of others, God rewards this humility with more grace.  This grace is realized when we resist the pride (“I should be good at whatever I do”) and take joy in imperfect (yet growing) service.

Face Two: Refusal to Accept My Spouse’s Weaknesses

There is humility in action.  Then there is humility in expectation and evaluation.  We move from the paralysis of fear rooted in an expectation of personal excellence to the mantra, “Haven’t I already told you that” or “How many times have you done that and still not gotten it right?”

The pride has mutated.  The pride now says, “I would have been able to do that, so you should be able to do that.”  Whereas before pride was holding me up to a level of elevated expectation, now pride raises my ability or expectation as the standard for you to meet.  In both cases, the absent effort or harsh tone is rooted in “I should” or “I could” (pride).

Patience is rooted in humility.  Patience accepts that imperfection, error, inefficiency, and incompleteness are not beneath me.  That is humility.  When we extend this form of humility to our spouse (and children) we are incarnating the grace of God.  God rewards this dispositional obedience (yes, obedience to God can be as much attitude as activity) with more grace.

When we put these two faces of humility into practice we experience a home where the atmosphere is marked by the grace of God and we experience the redemptive joy God intended in a Christian marriage and family.

Originally posted on Brad Hambrick's website:   http://bradhambrick.com/why-humility-is-doubly-important-in-marriage-2/

God is Sovereign: Part 13 of Attributes of God

God is sovereign.

Sovereign means a person who has supreme power and authority.  God has no limit to His power and His rule over the worlds and all that is in them.  

“God holds authority over us because He is our author.”  God is the Creator so He is, therefore, the owner of all things.

If you draw a picture, who does the picture belong to?  If you make a clay pot or vase, who owns it?

Consider these verses:

Job 42:2  “I know you can do all things; no plan of  yours can be thwarted”

Psalm 115:3  “Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.”

Isaiah 46:10  “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.  I say:  My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”

Daniel 4:35  “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.  He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.  No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?”

Proverbs 21:30  “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord”

Ecclesiastes 7:13  “Consider what God has done:  Who can straighten what he has made crooked?”

Proverbs 16:9  “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps”

Lamentations 3:37  “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?”

What do you learn from all these verses?

There is absolutely NOTHING that happens that God has not allowed to have happen.  There is nothing that can be done to you that is outside of God’s plan for you.  This includes the sin of other people.

Think about the story of Joseph.  Joseph was thrown into a pit by his 11 older brothers.  They argued about killing him but ended up selling him as a slave.  Joseph was taken far from his home and made a slave.  His owner’s wife falsely accused Joseph of hurting her.  Joseph was put in jail and left there for years, forgotten about.  When Joseph gets out of jail, he becomes a high ranking official in Egypt.  Then his brothers come to him needing help.  Joseph is face to face with the brothers who sold him into slavery which led to jail time and a very difficult life for him. 

Joseph says in Genesis 50:20  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Even the sin of Joseph’s brothers was part of God’s plan.  God meant it for good.  Think about the immensity, power, just, right, loving, holy, wise God that is so sovereign, He has power and purpose over wrongs done to us and can use those wrongs for His glory and our good.  

Remember, not everything feels good.  God’s ultimate plan for His people is to be like Christ.  In his wisdom and love, He uses hard circumstances to make us like Christ - and when we are more like Christ, we have more joy!

Ecclesiastes 7:14  “When times are good, be happy: but when times are bad, consider, God has made the one as well as the other.  Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.”

Isaiah 45:7  “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.”

Lamentations 3:38  “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?”

Can anyone mess up God’s plan for you?

Can another person do or say something that is outside of God’s control?

Can a teacher give an assignment that is not part of God’s plan for you?

Can a boss do anything to you that takes you outside of God's will for your life?

Can a parent’s “no” to something you want to do be against God’s plan for you?

God’s sovereignty would be scary if God were not also good, wise, merciful and kind. But, because God is holy, holy, holy, we can be excited that He controls everything!  His goodness and power will only allow what will bring Him honor and praise, and only what is good for us.  

Romans 8:28-29 says “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

For believers in Christ, for those who called to be His children, God uses all things - every situation whether easy or hard - for the good of making like more like His Son.  

Are you thankful for God’s sovereignty?

Why?

In what situation in your life do you need to trust in God’s complete sovereignty, knowing that a good, loving, wise God has allowed this situation to happen because He loves you and wants you to be more like Christ where true joy is found?

Getting to know God in relationship:

How will you talk to God differently and read His word differently because of this attribute?

Written by Wendy Wood, CHCC counselor

God is Holy: Part 12 of Attributes of God

God is holy.

If you look up the definition of “holy”, one word used is Godly.  That’s because the word “holy” only describes God.  Holy means perfect and absolutely pure.  The angels singing around God’s throne sing “Holy, Holy, Holy”.  The word “holy” is repeated three times to show emphasis and draw attention to how amazing this attribute of God is.  There is no way for us humans to fully grasp holiness because we are not holy in any way on our own.  God is so holy that He says no one can look at Him and live.  

Exodus 33:20  “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

In the bible, everyone who encounters God immediately falls down or hides.  Moses hid his face in the rock.  John fell down almost dead.  Saul (also known as Paul) fell down and was blinded by God.  God’s holiness is so unlike anything we know that we will never fully understand God’s holiness.  But it is worth it to think about this attribute of God because it sets Him apart from everyone and everything else.

Every attribute of God is holy.  God’s love is holy.  God’s mercy is holy.  God’s justice is holy.  God’s anger is holy.  Every attribute of God is holy because it is perfect and pure in goodness.

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?  Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”

Revelation 4:8  “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."

Our sin separates us from a this Holy God.  A holy God cannot dwell with sinful people.  We must repent of our sin, and trust in Jesus’ death on the cross for our sin, for the Holy Spirit to come and live in us.  It is only Christ’s righteousness and holiness that allow us to enter into relationship with God.

Isaiah 59:2  “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”

God’s standard is holiness.  

1 Peter 1:15,16 says “ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy”

We are not holy.  To be in the presence of God we must have faith in Christ, and then we are clothed in Christ’s perfection.  It is Christ’s death on the cross the gives us access to God.

Why is God’s holiness so unique?

What does God’s holiness mean to you?

Getting to know God in relationship:

How will you talk to God differently and read His word differently because of this attribute?

Written by Wendy Wood, CHCC counselor

God is Love: Part 11 of Attributes of God

God is love.

“If we want proof of God’s love for us, then we must look first at the cross where God offered up His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  Calvary is the one objective, absolute, irrefutable proof of God’s love for us.”

1 John 4:9-10 “This is how God showed His love among us:  He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

Love is self-sacrificing.  Love gives.  Love gives to others no matter the cost to oneself.  

The bible is clear that we are not deserving of God’s love.  We were enemies of God (Ephesians 2:3).  We were stuck in our sin (Romans 5:8).  We were spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1).  God chose to love us because He is at His very nature love.  He decided to love us because of who He is.  

John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit…”

God doesn’t love us because we are loveable.  God loves us because He, out of His goodness and mercy, chose to love us.  It is for His Name and His glory that He chooses to love us.

God’s love for His children is special.  When we are surrendered to Christ as our Lord and Savior we are “in Christ”.  This adoption into God’s family, this being brought into a relationship with Christ, is what makes God’s love special.  When we are “in Christ”, God’s glory and our good are linked together.  What brings God glory is good for us, and what is good for us brings God glory.  Being “in Christ” means God’s love for us cannot change because we are connected to the One He loves perfectly and completely.

Ezekiel 36:22-26  “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name...  I will vindicate the holiness of my great name…  I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses…  I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.”

God acts for His Name’s sake.  God is revealing Himself when He chooses to love us.  God is so great and so loving that He chooses to make Himself known through loving people that are totally unworthy of His love.

God forgives us for His own sake!

Isaiah 43:25  “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”

God is worthy of praise and honor and glory!  He knows that we are most happy and content when we are worshipping Him.  So, He reveals Himself to us and others through forgiving us and loving us.  He deserves praise and worship because He is the Most High God, and He chooses to give us love because it is Glory for Him and good for us!  That is an amazing God!!

What did you do to receive God’s love?

What could you do to lose God’s love?

Romans 8:31- 35,  37-38

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When we are in God’s family, knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord, God sees us clothed in Christ’s righteousness.  His love for us is the same as the love for His Son.

Think about the last time your parents disciplined you.  What rule had you broken or what had you done wrong that led to your discipline?  Why do you think your parents gave you discipline for your behavior?   Or, if you are a parent, think about the last time you disciplined your child.  

Do you think your parents love you too much to let you continue to make wrong choices?

Do you think your parents love you and want you to learn to obey while you are young so that you can make better choice in the future?

Hebrews 12 addresses how God’s love and discipline are the same thing!

Hebrews 12:7-11

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

God says His discipline is because He loves us.  God loves us too much to allow us to keep going down a path of sin that will be harmful to us.  God may put us through a time of discipline so that we change, and grow in our Christlikeness.  That is God’s love for us!  And, God may be using your parents (and teachers) to discipline you so that you grow and change!

Write out a prayer thanking God for His love.

Getting to know God in relationship:

How will you talk to God differently and read His word differently because of this attribute?

Written by Wendy Wood, CHCC counselor

God is Faithful: Part 10 of Attributes of God

God is faithful

God is faithful.  God is true to His promises.  God is reliable.  You can count on God to do what He says He will do.  God can be trusted.  God is believable.  

Joshua 21:45 “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”

Isaiah 46:11 “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

Deuteronomy 7:9  “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations”

God cannot change.  God cannot act outside His character.  He must always keep His promises because He is good,  He is just, He is unchanging, He is all-powerful, He is faithful.

One of God’s signs of keeping His promises was the rainbow He sent after the flood.  When Noah and the ark came to rest on dry land, God put a rainbow in the sky to mark His promise that He would never flood the earth again.

Think about a time when you did not keep your promise.  Maybe you changed your mind because you were scared.  Maybe you changed your mind because you realized the promise you had made would be inconvenient or difficult to keep.  Maybe you broke your promise because you lost interest in an activity.  Maybe you broke your promises because you simply didn’t have the ability to make it happen.  

These things are never true of God.  None of those situations can happen to God.  Everything that God does begins and ends in Himself.  Everything God does is because He is God and out of His goodness and power, He chooses to act.  He is never forced to do something or make a promise.  He is never without the ability to make what He wants to have happen happen.  

In Genesis 3:15 God promises a Savior.  After Adam and Eve sin, God says to the serpent Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring;  He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel”.  

God declares that there will be hatred or hostility between Satan’s followers and Jesus’ followers.  The “offspring” of the serpent are people who reject God.  The “offspring” of Eve is Jesus and those who follow Him.  In Genesis 3:15 God tells us that Jesus will “bruise” the head of Satan.  This is a death blow.  A head wound is deadly and shows victory over the one crushed.  Genesis 3:15 says that Satan will “bruise” Jesus’ heel.  A bruise on the heel hurts for a little while.  It is bothersome and annoying, but not deadly.  Satan’s offspring treated Jesus badly.  They hated Him, they whipped Him, they spit on Him, they made fun of Him, and they nailed Him to the cross to die.  But, Jesus was victorious in coming back to life and proved Himself to be more powerful and awesome.  Jesus defeated the power of Satan and sin and death.  God was faithful to His promise in Genesis 3:15 even though God waited several thousands years to fulfill the promise.

2 Corinthians 1:20 says “For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ]”.  

God promises that Jesus is coming back and will take all believers to heaven with Him.

"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)

God promises that He has prepared a place for us in heaven.

John 14:3  “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

God promises that He will be with us forever.

Revelation 21:3  “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”

God promises that all our tears and sorrows will be gone forever.

Revelation 21:4  “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

We can enjoy these promises because God is faithful.  We know with certainty that God will do all that He has promised.   He has to fulfill His Word because He is infinitely faithful.  There is no limit to His faithfulness.

What promise that God has made do you like to think about?

How is your happiness increased by thinking about God’s faithfulness in keeping this promise?

How would your circumstances on earth differently if you kept in mind God’s faithfulness to His promises.  (Think about the things that make you sad or the things that make you angry or scared.  How would thinking about God’s promises of heaven help you be joyful even in these difficult circumstances?)

Getting to know God in relationship:

How will you talk to God differently and read His word differently because of this attribute?

Written by Wendy Wood, CHCC counselor