Surrounded by Love

I am thoroughly enveloped by the love of Jesus. Do you know what I mean? There is love all around me. I see it in the way He is with me: in the truths He brings to me, in the change He elicits in me, in the care and concern He has for me, in the reassurances—near continual—that He gives to me, in the answers of Himself He gives to my cries for Him. His love surrounds me.

I am safe in the love of Jesus. God is love. I’ve never known a love like His, like fire—so pure—like continual sacrifice—so giving—and like understanding friendship—so gentle and kind, such that I am baffled and have no mental category to place how He treats me. God is God. I fear Him. I honor Him. I worship Him. I enjoy Him. I love Him. I wait for Him, to know more—oh, that I may know more. I lean toward Him, that I may have more precious dispensations of knowledge of Him.

I place myself in His care and under His control. And He takes me ‘neath the shadow of His wing. Thank you, Jesus.

Press On

Press on. These are the words on my heart today. I don’t understand all that God has been doing in my life. But these I know: God has a good plan for me, God cares for me personally and dearly, God is with me, God sacrifices for me, God teaches me in love, God pursues me, God is drawing me to Himself, God is helping me walk closer with Him in the truth, God will never leave me, God has purchased me with His precious blood, and all is grace.

So, I press on. I will admit that I am weary some days, that my spirit seems to fold at times, and that I have to remind myself to fully assume my self and move into my life. But press on. I press on through being reborn, through knowing that I am not who I was, through letting the rebirth of Jesus wash over me anew. For then, I remember that the calling is heavenward. It is Jesus. And, I don’t want my hands to be empty when I see Jesus. I don’t want my hands to offer nothing to Him from this life. I want to hold out goodness for Him. So press on, toward the heavenward calling, toward fellowship with Jesus, toward reborn life. Press on. Look up, and press on.

Joy

Jesus is reminding me of joy. I can choose joy. I can choose to enjoy my relationship with Jesus. There is much I have to work on with Him. Much work in surrendering that I have to do with Him, and more. I want to be closer to Him than I am. But, I can choose to enjoy the sweet and close relationship that I have with Him right now.

Jesus has been faithfully with me, providing for me, protecting me, sustaining me through all of life’s trials. And I know that He will always be my ever-present help, as the Scriptures say. He will never leave me or forsake me. He has met me in my darknest moments to pull me up and show me that as long as I have Him—and I always will—I have hope.

I celebrate this relationship, this one closer than any other. This one who has opened my heart and my eyes, who has lifted my countenance, who has taught me how to have faith and know goodness and grace. I celebrate this relationship with joy, saying, “Look how far we’ve come, thanks to You!” and “Look at what we have together!”

I can rest and enjoy.

All the Treasures

It’s a verse that comes to mind again and again: “In him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Do you not also long to uncover more of the beauty and brilliance of Jesus? For all eternity, we will praise the treasures found in Him. I desire to see layer after exquisite layer of His wisdom and knowledge, the God-Man who died for us and lives to bring us to glory.

He is continually upending me with a graciousness and generosity I’ve never known, with a tenderness I’ve never felt, with a leadership that is wise, with provisions and answers to prayer that are love, with tastes of Himself that are otherworldly in goodness. He is beyond my comprehension, and I desire more, my God.

How lost are those without Jesus! How hopeless are those who do not find in Jesus their ultimate treasure! And this is the truth: in Jesus is the treasure of the ages that we will never exhaust. Drink of Him and be satisfied. Eat of Him and be full. He will be the wealth of all the nations, the focal point of all eternity, the Lord of the Sabbath. Seek Him, and find.

Jesus' Strength

Jesus allowed Himself to become vulnerable: a babe in a manger, one tried like us, submitting to the cross.

Can we agree that His meekness is ultimate strength? That His ability to be tender and meek is the way we are softened and brought to humility? And, it is the way we are saved. Let us hold his tenderness and meekness in highest regard—that His vulnerability allowed for the ultimate victory and His tenderness enables us to be reached in our sins. He pulls us out with His strong, ever-able arm, as we love more and more the humility of the God-Man and long to be like Him in His beauty.

Strength can be misunderstood. Strength is not necessarily dominance, though Jesus is God and demands all worship and praise. Strength is not necessarily being commanding, though Jesus commands us to follow Him and will defeat His foe with a breath. Jesus demonstrated strength in being unafraid of what was ahead for Him—in enduring the cross with joy. He demonstrated strength in His submission to the cross. This is frankly a strength that I don’t fathom. I am stopped.

He did what was necessarily to complete a mission of truth and grace—of love. And in His moment of greatest human frailty, His death, and His moment of greatest sacrifice: He triumphs. His very submission is the victory.

Yesterday, Today, and Forever

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That means He is to our lives a solid foundation. He is to our persons the best friend we need. He is to our spirits continual support. He is to our hearts love. He is to our selves sufficiency. Do you know Jesus like this?

We can trust in Jesus because He never changes, for all time and eternity. We need never wonder if there is shifting or shadow in Him. Thank God that we have such a wonderful Savior and Friend! Our minds can wander with doubts. Especially living this brief life on earth, full of tribulations and disappointments—sorrow and strife—we can entertain doubts about Jesus. But let’s never let those fester or overtake. Let’s bring them to Him and hear Him whisper in our ear: I am the same yesterday, today and forever for you—even as we ask that His Spirit never leave us.

Can you imagine any meaning in life without Jesus? Don’t try; there would not be. He is the purpose for all living, breathing, being. And He always stays the same, with the infinite worth. Don’t believe any lies that would take you away from the solidity of this Friend. Don’t latch onto any doubts that would have you question Him, keeping Him at a distance. Let’s believe, always—letting the Scriptures breathe the truth into us.

Relaxed

I believe it honors Jesus for us to feel relaxed. There is remaining sin after we choose to follow Jesus Christ—much (speaking of myself). And for that, there is deep grace. Grace that abounds. It’s who He is, to show us this grace. God is so very good. So, when we realize that grace is real, we can be relaxed to go before Him and to live our lives. Grace is the reason we can relax in our days.

The opposite of being relaxed, it seems to me, is to feel tense and anxious around Jesus. But that would be to think that our remaining sin keeps us from Him. Instead, we can breathe. We can receive His permission to take our sanctification journey piece by piece, knowing that He is faithful to be bringing to completion the work that He started in us.

Trusting Jesus is the basis for our relaxation. When we trust Him, we feel safe in everlasting arms. We feel surrounded by His peace, letting it reign within our hearts. Trusting Him, feeling safe with Him, we can be relaxed with Him. Relaxing means knowing that He has our lives under His almighty control. Do we trust Him enough to relax in Him?

Heaven-bound

I woke up feeling heaven-bound—a citizen of that holy city. And that, all by grace. Bright and shimmering like the stars above. Wondrous and light like a gleaming future hope. And that is what we have—a brilliant future. I forget that future sometimes, when I am anxiously slogging through present questions and doubts. When I am faced with my own sins. But, a brilliant future. Let’s not forget it, huh? He wore a crown of thorns that we might be invited into His city with crowns of reward. And He rewards what He Himself empowers in us. How good is our God to reward the righteousness that He bestows and empowers!

When I consider that life is by a view of heaven, everything changes. I am not afraid. I feel established. I fight my sins with joy. I consider life with brevity. I am confident in the cross to go before a great God. The gift of heaven changes everything. And, truly, deeply, richly believing that I am heaven-bound alters my thinking. I don’t know why God would want to save someone like me, a sinner. But He does. And He did. And He wants me. That is itself better than a thousand rewards—to know that Jesus values me. That, the basis of life itself. I love you, Jesus.

One and Only

Sometimes when I think about Jesus, I think about the pain that He felt on the cross, I think about the painstaking way He has assured me that I belong to Him, and I think about how much hurt my continued sin causes Him. It’s not fair that He go through this. It’s not fair that He came to die. It’s not fair that He continue to be “dragged” through the mess that is inside of me as I learn to follow Him. But I see in Him the picture of the ultimate Man, the God-Man. I see in Him the ultimate One who would do all of this for me. How rich is His love! How abounding, that He continue to extend Himself to me! How kind are His ways! There is nothing that can separate me from His love. He keeps His own. His strong hand surrounds me—He keeps me because He is that good. And He won’t let go, because—again—He is that good. That He would enter into the wreck that is my sin patterns against Him and say He wants to walk with me through them! How giving! How extending of Himself! Surely I would be lost without my one and only Jesus. All praise to Him forever and ever.

Know Thyself

Knowing God is what enables us to know ourselves. But it occurs to me that we must also choose to know ourselves. We must choose to exercise the faculties of reason and decision that God has given us to know ourselves well. We must choose that we know what we believe and why. We must choose to see who we are as reborn people by the cross and say there is no question: I know who I am. Once I have done this, once I have seen myself by the cross—leaning wholly upon it for my standing with God—I have asked God to hold me in this self-knowledge. I have believed in God to hold me.

The Apostle Paul states in his letter to the church at Philippi that he knew he had not reached fully maturity in Christ Jesus, yet, he did his utmost to take hold of full maturity, as he could. And he did this because Christ had already taken hold of him. In knowing ourselves, we believe, then, in what God has already done to take hold of us. Isn’t the truth that God has taken hold of us a beautiful one—calming, kind, wondrous, true, marvelous? So, he has taken hold of us, we make every effort to know so, and I believe He holds us in knowing it too. For He is that kind and that gentle and that present—ever-present to our spirits.

I Wonder

God is the great King of all creation. I wonder what He thought as He created the world. I wonder if He thought of the cross, upon which He would die. I wonder if He thought of the many who would be people of faith in Him. I wonder if He thought of the suffering that mankind would have to endure as a result of rejecting Him; there is no excuse, there being so much evidence of God in creation. I wonder if He thought of His own glory that would come from saving even us.

He made man in His image, and I wonder that He did. He knew what kind of beings He wanted to create: those capable of love—of wanting Him. And then, when we fell, I wonder that He came. I marvel that He came. Nothing is better than the cross. The more I look at the rebellion of man—we turned on Him, lest we ever think otherwise—I marvel that He came as the figurehead of the human race, after Adam. I love my Lord Jesus. I wonder what He thought as He created this world. Do you believe in Him? Do you see in Him every answer of love you’ve ever longed to hear? I do, and I do.

Today is for Fall Living

“in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Jesus has me on a rhythm of rest and work, rest and work. But the work is sweet. We recently moved across the country—back from Texas to our midwestern roots in Illinois. We’re about 20 minutes from the nearest Target, and between us and there is farmland. The long drives to take my daughter to school and pick her up are soothingly through the fields. And when I am not in the car listening to the latest John MacArthur sermon, I am home unpacking boxes and working with my parents on house projects.

Fall in the midwest has my spirit lifted to the trees. I’ve already been to the apple orchard twice, and it’s only September first. I will mention that this luring destination is only about seven minutes from home. Rest and work. Rest and work. And then—apple orchard.

And in it all, the fruit of living is rejoicing in the God of my salvation, giving thanks for Him who is life always. Perhaps some look at fall and imagine loss. The loss of leaves and the exposure of the underlying framework of trunk and branches. The stripping of warmth from the weather. But I see it differently. I feel autumn is that one last invigorating push before everything falls asleep. Making the last of life the best of life. Like my beautiful Jesus making the finest wine, saved for the end of the gathering. Fall challenges me as I settle into the routines of my country-like life. Of the rhythm of driving my daughter to and from school, I do not see the end. But settle not, my soul. Don’t lose momentum. Live like fall, burning brightly until the end—with all hues of living.

Fall, I’ll say it again. You challenge me with your momentous, bounteous, beautifully flaming life. But that’s why I like you.

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P.S. If you’re looking for a fall Bible study, try Jude. It’ll draw you closer to Jesus, our beautiful bright morning star.

Today Is for Healing

When the moon is out, and the sun has slept, I like to think abut the differing and various courses my life could have and could take. I ponder them like paths on a park trail map or like the ship’s seafaring voyage routes. They are waiting, and I am watching. These paths that seems to tell me where to go—though I don’t know.

What I do know is that the Lord establishes my steps—even though I may plan my way. And I am convinced that He is planning my steps for healing. I am starting to be able to rest in His great grace—starting. I feel like a spiritual babe, looking everywhere and at every moment for milk, true spiritual milk. I even look to my pen for milk, as Jesus helps to guide my thoughts along in His sovereign grace. What am I denoting? That He is the great Healer, the Great Physician? Yes, and more.

That He charts even my course of healing. That is how much He protects me. That is how closely He guides me. That is how much He loves me. And if I am to hold to it, I once told Jesus that He gets to tell me what glory He receives from my life. And I now believe this is it—to take someone who’s been in every way low up to the heights. He will guide the way for hinds feet in high places (Hab. 3:19).

Today Is for Freewill Offerings of Praise

“With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.” —Ps. 54:6

When the psalmist offers freewill offerings of praise, it’s a though he’s telling God: I’m not required to do this, but I want to do this. I’m not required to make this sacrifice, but I want to make this sacrifice. And Jesus, I believe, loves freewill offerings of praise.

I want to consider with you what might be a freewill offering of praise. Jesus accepts that we are weak and weary, that we offer simply what we can. Just living in this sinful world and fighting evil in our flesh and the evil against us is enough to send us to our knees.

A freewill offering of praise is a special point of communion between us and Jesus. It is truly a special concept, and I believe that’s how the psalmist meant it. It’s as though we are saying: what can we do to especially honor God simply because we want to and simply because of the loving overflow of our hearts toward Him? If we choose a difficult path in life because we believe it will make us more faithful to Jesus—He accepts this as praise. If we accept His loving reception of our freewill offering, He is especially praised, I believe. What a wonderful thing—to have a Saviour so willing to rejoice over us.

Don’t you want to hear His voice like that one day—a voice that rejoices over us? I do. I certainly do. Now, what is it for you—any freewill offering in your heart today?

Today Is for Love

What is the way of Jesus with His children, but love—incredibly credible love? What do I mean, you ask? I marvel that He can relate with us while we are being sanctified. While we are being transformed, He welcomes us near on the basis of His love and His grace.

Once again, I am at the core of a spiritual problem of mine. I don’t receive as Jesus would want. I am working on it. Truly, and I do well to know He is in me as I wrestle myself to receive. Why don’t I receive His love as I would want? Is it culture? Is it pride? A combination.

I think I am on my way. Jesus knows that I receive by faith—even as I receive Him as my Lord. So I live. So I proceed. I receive Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ accepts me. Abide in Him and He will abide in you, says the Scriptures.

Now remember, Jesus is telling us that our time on earth is brief compared with eternity—so all the better reason to receive His love now. He calls me to His love right here and now in all of the substance and activity of this life. Jesus says He loves us like Hosea to Gomer. Like a King to a whore—and all because He has decided to do so, to make the whore His bride. He washes and cleanses His bride, and He calls us near with this: He is with us—with love from His heart to ours. Amen.

Today Is for Inward Peace

When the guardian of my soul is the Great Shepherd, what do you think happens? Peace within.

Now, I confess to having fears within, like we all have, from time to time. I confess to not fully receiving God’s peace—that is, the perfect love that drives out fear. I imagine you have the same issue as me, unless you are far more advanced in your own spiritual walk. I’m working on receiving that love with Him. He loves me so, and I will know it in full one day. Of this, I am sure. I will accept it in full one day. Of this, I am sure.

But between then and now, when I look in a mirror dimly, I trust He is circling around me with a wealth of love, and I trust that He welcomes my mustard-seed faith. Now, seeing as I am growing in grace and I am seeking to understand how to walk forward in greater faith with peace, here’s where I am: He holds me, and He leads me.

As the biblical imagery puts it, I am at war with my sin, while at peace with Him. One day triumphant, now militant—as the turn of phrase in the Christian tradition goes. I go to Jesus for my supply until that final rest.

Listen, if I am to write like this, then you must know that it is a ministry of weakness. Hear that loud and clear. I am sharing my spiritual journey with you, my faith walk. And in this forum, I don’t put these posts forth in a teaching forum, but as a fellow soul loving Jesus and yearning for Him. If you join me here—welcome!—know that I bring the waste, the rubble, and He the joy. I am precious and dearly love because He has set His love upon me. That’s all I mean.

Jesus is the expert on the turns of the soul, and I write in this forum as a fellow follower of Christ, humbling myself and wanting His glory truly. Do you accept these terms, as a reader? Good, for I am growing in inner peace. Here is an entry in that file.

Today Is for Hope, Grace, and Faith

When you wake up in the morning, do you feel a smile reach your face, or a frown? Do you know what I have? I have the reality of Jesus Christ across my face. He is and has always been my “reason.” My morning air, my daily breath, my hope, etc.

Yet, faith in Jesus in my everyday circumstances can prove a challenge for me. I recently felt the Lord convict me that I want Him in heaven, but not on earth. Meaning, I want Him when everything is perfect but I don’t always want to follow Him in my day-to-day circumstances. The precipitated reflection for me, that culminated in a new reception of God’s grace. I needed His forgiveness.

I don’t exactly know if I’m an old Christian who has received new grace, or if I am a new Christian who has miraculously received grace. I believe God is merciful and honors our faith. But I confess a limited understanding of God’s grace for me, prior to this spiritual experience.

I understood the doctrine of grace. I had deep love for Jesus (more than I can say). But I was lacking in grace, and now I make it my intention to regularly—prayerfully, daily!—remember God’s grace for me and that He holds me.

This new understanding of grace has been so monumental that I wonder if God accepted my faith before it. But I did confess with my mouth that Jesus is the Son of God and believe God raised Him from the dead for the forgiveness of my sins. Yes, I did. I believed in His forgiveness with a simple faith. But did I grasp His grace for me like I do now? No. Do I grasp it yet? Not fully. Amen.

Today Is for Jesus

I have faith that Jesus truly is the Son of God, truly sits at the Father’s right hand, was truly the babe in the manger, and was truly the sacrifice for my sins. He bled and died—for me and for you. I love a song I sung for Jesus in high school:

Jesus, your name is like honey on my lips

Your Spirit like water to my soul

Your Word is a lamp unto my feet

Jesus, I love you. I love you.

Salvation really is—truly is—the greatest possible gift. Eternal separation from God as compared with eternal glory with Him. Who can designate a better gift to the fallen human race? Who could imagine this: the God of the universe becoming flesh for us?

There is a difference between Jesus in our minds and the Jesus who is. There is a difference between the Jesus we picture and the Jesus who lives. I do well to remember it, and to simply ask if I might get to know Him a bit better.

Jesus welcomes all of the hard things that are in my heart—unto His presence, to look at there with Him. He doesn’t turn the contrite away. Listen, I have not always done that with Jesus. I haven’t handled my sins with Him on an ongoing basis. It’s much easier to self-correct and turn to self-righteousness. But that is hateful to the Lord who made way for my acts to be brought to Him. It must be in the fellowship with the God. The God whose name is like honey and who lights my path.

Today Is for Thriving in His Hands

There is nothing quite so peaceful as knowing that you free unto Jesus.

There is nothing that so “charms” the soul.

I love Jesus, and I will spend all eternity with Him, saying, “It’s all about You!”

I will bow. I will sing. I will obey perfectly. And that is the delight of my heart.

The best praise I can give Jesus today is to have faith—to trust that His grace really does make room for me at His holy, gorgeous future banquet table. The best thing I can do is trust in His mercy for all that I haven’t “processed” with Him yet, and believe that there is strength with Jesus to allow me to move forward. He holds my life, my mind, my heart, my everything.

Jesus is my all in all times, and I know that He truly can guide me through this life. I trust in the life He wants to give me, and I trust that I am truly His.

Jesus says that my spirit is able to walk with Him. He says that my spirit is able to thrive here in Him. And as I trust in His loving kindness over me, I believe I can trust Him today. I can trust that He leads me, and I choose to trust and follow. Out of my hands, and into His!

Today Is for Being Kept

Jesus wants us all to have willing spirits to obey Him. He knows that days can get long, every dreary. He knows that circumstances can send us straight to trusting our own strength. He knows that our wisdom is not His wisdom—and we often revert to the former. But what of the spirit of a man? We are in the hands and safeguarding of Jesus.

Jesus is the all in all of our lives and of our days. He is the one we trust in at all times when we depend on the gifts and increases of faith that He gives. We must—I think!—remember that Jesus is a Person. We pray to the Word made flesh, and we can trust His Word to lead us to the Person of Jesus. If we really know that—and we do even if our belief is faulty—then we know that there is more in us than we realize. There is more in us than we know. And there is more in us than we sense. For Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit (John 14:17).

It’s a sweet prayer to say that our spirits are willing when our flesh is weak. A very sweet prayer indeed, but what’s most important is to first recall that Jesus keep us, that Jesus preserves us. He’s able to do so, and He’s willing to do so. No matter what, Jesus longs for us to be dependent upon Him, every step of our lives. Where are you, my God? My soul cries it. And He answers: He makes me willing to hold fast to Him in faith when the flesh is weak.