10/22 - Tough Promises

Read John 14-16.

It's two chapters full of some amazing promises for our lives that we may not always take advantage of. There's a lot in this passage so for all of you who read it, you'll get something different out of it (don't worry, thats the Holy Spirit working). The thing that stood out to me is that about 4 times in Jesus' monologue he offers this promise, "Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it." (John 14:14, 15:7, 15:16, 16:24).

In the study that led me to this passage, I was challenged to take these promises literally. However, I think we all know this isn't an open ATM. We can't just ask for and get whatever we want right? Isn't that the literal translation? The reason we know this isn't true is the same reason we have difficulty in putting our confidence in these promises - we've tried them and they don't work. Well, at least they don't work how we think they should work. We've asked God for things that are noble & spiritual things yet we haven't seen the results we desired. We've asked God to heal loved ones, deliver us from financial problems, mend relationships but sometimes these things don't happen. How does that line up with "You may ask anything in my name and I will give it to you"?

Well, let me confess - I'm not here to answer that question. I'm not qualified. This is one of those tough passages that quite honestly is hard to deal with. God is mysterious and doesn't necessarily require that we figure Him out. We can, however, begin to deal with this issue by understanding some very fundamental truths.

God's will is perfect. It's perfect because it's His. We cannot receive anything from Him that is also not subject to His will. (1 John 2:17)

God is good and worthy of our trust. No matter the circumstance, He has our best interest at heart. (John 14:1)

If we don't get what we want, it's probably for our good. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Today, let's be encouraged by what God has promised. Although it may be difficult to understand His reasoning, let's worship Him for that instead of causing it to draw us away from Him. Let the fact that He's mysterious, that His ways aren't our ways, that He's unsearchable, His way unfathomable....let these facts cause us to worship Him and seek to learn more about Him. It's issues like these that ought to drive us further into study and learning about this wonderful God.

10/20 - Rejoice!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Philippians 4:4). Today is an encouragement for us to do just that. I know we can get bogged down with the pressures of life but this verse doesn't seem to offer us any exemption in these times. It says to rejoice always. The ability to rejoice requires a little faith & a little trust in God.

There are certain people who, if I loan something of value to, I can be confident that I'll receive my stuff back. Then there are those other ones. Though they say things like "I'll get it to you next week," I have little confidence in it actually happening. I may even have to check up on them every once in a while just to make sure they don't forget because I'm concerned that they won't keep their word. When we worry about all the stuff in our life, aren't we treating God like I treat these people? We're worried He won't keep His word so we stress out trying to do it on our own.

God has made promises like Philippians 4:4 and here in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." So what does it say about us when we worry? Francis Chan described worry and stress this way:

Worry implies that we don't quite trust that God is big enough, powerful enough, or loving enough to take care of whats happening in our lives.

Stress says the things we are involved in are important enough to merit our impatience, our lack of grace toward others, or our tight grip of control.

One of the things that Christians ought to be wary of is justifying our stress. We can fool ourselves into thinking that our anxieties are OK because they're ministry related. Again, God's promises make no provision for "how important" the issue we stress about are. If we believe 1 Corinthians 10:13, "...God is faithful; he will not tempt you beyond what you can bear" - then our only adequate response is to trust Him and carry on with life, rejoicing.